Panic in Edo
by Appaku
Summary: COMPLETE! Miyako and Hawkmon thought they wouldn't do any harm by setting back the digital world's clock, but they set the real world back over 300 years! Everyone has been leading alternate lives. Even worse, where will she find a computer?
1. Chapter 1

It's been forever since I wrote Digimon fan fiction. I'm glad to start doing it again. The idea hit me as I was noticing how much Miyako and Hawkmon make little references to ancient Japan, especially the Edo period. I made a breif sketch of them in Edo attire, and then all the ideas hit me and I knew I had to write it. The first chapter moves a little fast, but the pace slows down as more characters come in.

Style wise, I'm using their Japanese names, but the dub terms. I like them better than "evolve"! As much as I'd love too, I won't through in more Japanese culture terms than necessary. All the main characters will be ones you already know and love, kept as in character as possible (considering their new situations).

* * *

Miyako and Hawkmon stood quietly in a dark room, where the clock of the Digital World was kept. It ticked steadily as she collected her thoughts.

He partner turned to her with concerned eyes to meet her tear-stained ones, and asked firmly, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"If you could, wouldn't you want to turn back time to erase your mistakes?" she asked back, trying to cover up her uneasiness with a smile.

"No, because I think before I act so I won't make such huge mistakes," he scolded. "Besides, it's better just to correct your mistakes."

"That's what you think. I think it's better if some of them never happened in the first place," she replied as she reached her hand out to the clock. "I'm only setting it back an hour. That won't do much harm."

"What if it effects your world, too?"

"Hawkmon, since when have our worlds been on the same timeline?" Miyako rolled her eyes.

The digimon sighed heavily. "I hope you won't regret this."

"I already have regrets."

It was a very simple movement to push the hour hand back. When she removed her hand, the clock simply continued ticking as usual. As if nothing happened, they returned back to public domain of the Digital world. Looking around carefully, they concluded that everything was just the same as it was an hour before.

With a sigh of relief, they opened the digi-port to return to the real world.

"Ouch!" Miyako yelled as she hit the ground, and Hawkmon landed on top of her. "Wasn't I supposed to have a carpet here?"

"Come to think of it, what _are_ we doing outside?" the digimon observed. "And where's the digi-port we came out of?"

"Hey… Hawkmon? Why do you suppose everyone's dressed so formally?" she pointed down the hill to where the streets were filled with people dressed in traditional clothes. The people were all hustling about, shopping and showing off their swords.

"Maybe this isn't the real world?" he suggested.

"No, it's probably just a festival!" she clapped her hands in excitement. "I didn't know they were having one today! Let's go check it out."

They wandered the stands, carefully examining everything people were selling. Miyako was a little disappointed not to find the typical festival games, but Hawkmon was more distressed by the glances all the other shoppers were giving them. "Miyako, are they upset at us for not dressing up?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "My yukata is a little dirty right now, though. If I had known about this, I would have cleaned it up. I've got a little extra cash, so maybe I could buy one here," she scanned the vendors, until two familiar faces caught her eye. "Hey! Takeru and Iori are here!"

"Are they?"

"Right over there, see? Takeruuu! Ioriiii! Heeey!"

The two faces glanced over, shrugged, and then continued their business. Miyako grunted. "Oh, I see how it is."

"Are they mad at you? How did they find out about-"

"I can't believe they didn't tell me about this festival! They must be avoiding me because of that," she quickly dodged the question.

"Excuse me, miss," a gruff-voiced man said from behind her. "It seems that you're in need of some better clothes."

"Yeah, I am!" her mood picked itself right back up. "How much for… that yellow kimono?"

"That one will look especially flattering on you," he pitched his sale, and Hawkmon slapped his palm to his forehead as Miyako gleefully opened her wallet.

"They you go, sir! Five thousand yen. Do you have a bag I can use to keep it in later?"

"Wait a second there, missy," the man's tone turned darker. "You think you can pull a fast one on me and call this money?"

"Well I'm not calling it digi-dollars, am I?" she half-glared at him for implying that she was thief. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change into this now."

"Thief! Stop that girl in the strange clothes!"

Miyako tensed up in surprise as a few large men with swords started charging at her. Taking his role as her guardian, Hawkmon didn't have a second thought as she threw his head feather at them. It dinged each of the swords before winding up back in his hand. "What are you trying to do to an innocent girl?" he asked them as he brandished the feather.

The men stepped back in surprised. "That bird… isn't that?"

"Takeru! Takeru, look!" Iori watched the commotion from further down the street. "It's a digimon!"

Takeru's eyes widened as he looked. "You're right. What does that girl think she's doing?"

"Don't step any closer!" Hawkmon threatened as he stood protectively in front of Miyako, who clutched the kimono tightly.

"L-Listen! All I want is my payment!" the gruff man said nervously from behind the cowering men with swords.

"She already--"

Hawkmon's mouth was clamped shut by a young boy's hand, just as Miyako's mouth was clamped shut by another. Iori and Takeru stood next to them with nervous smiles.

"T-The bill is on us, sir!" Takeru sweated a little. "How much did that kimono cost? Five hundred ryo?"

"Five thousand," the gruff man corrected him firmly. Reluctantly, Takeru handed him a bag of coins and led them away from the commotion.

"You can you get dressed in that little shop over there," Iori motioned for Miyako to hurry a little. "We'll watch this guy for you."

A little unsure why he referred to Hawkmon as 'this guy', Miyako nodded and left with the kimono. Seeing her leave, the young boy turned back around and heaved a sigh as he took a seat next to Takeru against their cart. "So much for dinner tonight."

"It's alright, Iori. Mimi won't mind feeding us."

"I feel bad asking her to do that so often," he replied meekly. Hawkmon could only look on, puzzled by their behavior.

"But we'll still get just a _little _something to eat… right?" a muffled voice came from the inside of the cart. Armadimon stuck his nose out with sad, hungry eyes behind it.

"Shh, Armadimon! We'll be fine! It's those growing boys we have to worry about!" Patamon's voice came from behind him.

"Ah! I was wondering where you two were!" Hawkmon perked up as he peaked under the cloth that covered them. "Why are you under there? Are you playing hide and seek, or something?"

Armadimon and Patamon stared back blankly. "Who are you?"

The bird digimon's jaw dropped. They didn't know him? Come to think of it, Iori and Takeru weren't acting very friendly to him and Miyako, either. An idea struck him as to why, but he hoped he wasn't right. "Takeru, what year is it?"

"Um… 1647," he said cautiously.

"What have we done?" Hawkmon yelled in shock. "I never though the clock in the digital world would have--"

"The digital world!" Patamon and Armadimon both grew big smiles. "You've been in the digital world?"

"Of course… you have too, haven't you?"

They both quieted back down sadly. Seeing the look of confusion on Hawkmon's face, Iori clarified. "They haven't been back to their home in years."

"Oh, I see," he looked back at the ground. By messing up the flow of time, the friends they used to know must have been leading alternate lives, and not going to the digital world like they regularly would.

"I guess that if you're from the digital world, you don't understand what kind of position you're in here," Iori continued. "Only a few powerful people are known to have digimon partners. We have to keep Armadimon and Patamon a secret so that those people who are opposed to their presence won't hurt them."

"Can't they digivolve?"

"Digivolve? No!" they all shook their heads together, as Takeru continued, "They aren't strong enough. It's much easier on everyone just to lay low. It would be a good idea for you to do the same."

Hawkmon furrowed his eyebrows. Digimon shouldn't have to live their lives in secrecy, he thought. He still felt strong enough to digivolve, though, so laying low was far from his mind. Besides, this was 1647. A lot of the samurai dramas Miyako's father watched took place during this time. At last, he might get the chance to live like a samurai and gallantly protect Miyako with that status- and more importantly, coolness.

"Um… you look a little dazed. Is this too much for you, um… something-or-othermon?"

"Oh, excuse me. I'm Hawkmon," he bowed. "And my companion is Miyako."

"I didn't know that girls came from the digital world, too," Takeru scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't remember seeing any," Patamon shook his head.

"T-they don't," he clarified. "Miyako is from… well, never mind."

"Talking about me, I see?" she came up from behind him, with a makeshift obi made of her dress to hold up the kimono. "Anyway, Hawkmon, let's go back and give that guy a piece of our mind!"

"Ah, about that," he pulled her out of Takeru and Iori's earshot to explain the situation.

"I-I did that?" she yelled loud enough for them to hear, unsure what to make of it. "And now digimon have to cower and hide? That's horrible. We have to fix this."

"And I'm sure you know how that needs to happen," he looked her straight in the eye. She paused, and then shifted her glance away as she felt a knot in her throat.

"You're right. Mistakes should be dealt with rather than just avoided… well, we'll tackle this one head on. We'll just head back to the digital world and set the clock forward an hour."

"In theory, that would work, Miyako," he said. "But how do you expect to find a digi-port here?"

She paused again, before sinking her head and muttering some light profanity.

"I guess that since you just got here, you don't have a place to stay, huh?" Takeru interrupted them as Iori hitched the cart back up. "We have a friend who would be alright with you staying with her. Follow me!"

The boys lead her and Hawkmon to a small restaurant, which was quiet and fairly empty. A smiley, familiar face came out to welcome them.

"Mimi!" Miyako perked up and clasped Mimi's hand as a greeting. "When did you get back to Japan?"

"Ummm…" Mimi blinked at her. "Have we met?"

"Long time no see, Mimi," Takeru waved from behind her. "Do you mind if we see you for a few minutes?"

"Oh, sure thing, Takeru. Come on in, and I'll get Patamon and Armadimon a snack," she said before noticing Hawkmon. "And this guy, too."

Hawkmon was starting the miss the sound of his name as they kept referring to him as "this guy".

"You said 'return to Japan'?" Iori snickered. "Nobody leaves here. Mimi's been running this restaurant with her parents for her whole life."

"Oh, I see," Miyako said quietly. "So everyone here has been leading alternate lives… I wonder where my family is? Ha! Maybe we run a giant yakuza! Ha ha ha!"

"Sssh!" Iori hushed her as Takeru looked away. "Don't joke about that."

"Um, okay," she blinked. Mimi returned and served them in a private room, and sat down to join them.

"So, what have I missed?" she smiled, not bothered at all by seeing another digimon. Miyako figured it was because Palmon must be hiding around there somewhere.

"This is Miyako, and her digimon partner, Hawkmon. They came here from the Digital world," Takeru motioned towards them. "We just found them today stirring up trouble with some other vendors."

"The Digital world?" Mimi's eyes widened. "So it really does exist?"

"Of course it does!" Armadimon looked up from his food with an insulted face. "Where do you think we came from?"

"I don't know… the mountains?" she shrugged obliviously.

"Um, Mimi? Wouldn't Palmon have clarified that for you by now?" Miyako sweated a little.

"Who?" she tilted her head with a curious glaze over her face.

"Oh, never mind," she blushed. Mimi must not have her partner in this reality. "Anyway, Hawkmon and I need to find a way to get back to the Digital world to fix this whole mess. Where is the closest digi-port?"

Everyone laughed, a little anxiously. "If we knew that, do you think we'd still be here?" Iori asked.

"I see. Man, all I'd need is a computer! It might not even need an internet connection!"

"Wait… a computer?" Takeru clarified, as the room became quiet. "I've heard of that."

"You have!" Miyako's jaw dropped.

"Maybe in this alternate reality, they have Edo-Macintoshes…" Hawkmon suggested. "Anyway, were can we find a computer?"

"I've never actually seen it myself," he said in a very serious tone. "It's a national treasure kept at the castle by Lord Daisuke."

"Wait wait wait… as in, feudal _Lord Daisuke_?" Miyako's glasses slid down her nose. "And he's the only one with a computer?"

"He has a digimon, too," Iori chimed in. "And that one is strong enough to digivolve."

"Figures. It's V-mon, right?"

"Yes…" they said slowly. "Though we've only occasionally seen him prowling the streets as XV-mon."

"I see," Hawkmon thought. "Well, we should pay him a visit right away."

"I-I-I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Mimi waved her hands. "It's not like you can just walk into the castle without an invitation!"

"Why? Has having a digimon given him such a big head that's he's declared himself the new Digimon Kaizer? Sheesh!" Miyako grunted. "Well, it's not like his head wasn't big to start out with… whatever. It shouldn't be a big problem. We're familiar with him."

"A-are you?" The group blinked at them.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," she smiled back. "Well, if you'll excuse us, we should get to that right away."

"No, you won't," Mimi tugged on her kimono to make her sit back down. "You're not getting away without taking me up on a hospitable offer to stay here tonight."

Miyako was about to protest, until the irresistible thought hit her. She could have a sleepover with Mimi. With an all too content face, she sat back down.

"Now then. Takeru, Iori, how are you? Have you been keeping up with your training, Iori?"

He nodded. "Every night."

"Glad to hear it," she smiled.

"We've been having to cut some corners, but it'll be alright," Takeru smiled.

"You'll have to take the leftover food in the ice box before you go. Sometimes I worry that you don't eat enough," Mimi mused.

Before that could refused, Armadimon and Patamon were already thanking her profusely for the food. The boys sighed and gathered up their things. Bidding Miyako farewell and good luck, they took their leave.

"Why can't they get food at home?" Miyako asked as she took a big bite of what Mimi had prepared for the remaining three of them to share.

"They're orphans, Miyako," Mimi looked back at her. "They've been living as street vendors together for the past few years."

"Oh," a knot in her stomach churned. "That's horrible."

"Takeru was the sole survivor of a yakuza raid. I think it might have had something to do with his having Patamon," she said quietly, as if reminiscing. "And Iori was living with his grandfather at the dojo since he was a very small child. Until the night his grandfather was killed, anyway. The boy's been training to get revenge ever since."

"That's really, really horrible!" Miyako bit her lip. "But still, that's just like Iori, to want justice so much."

"Yeah," Mimi agreed. "Since that day, he's had his eyes peeled for that dark haired drifter named Ken."

Miyako and Hawkmon gulped simultaneously. "Naaaaw," they looked at each other nervously. There were plenty of other Kens in the world, so it couldn't have been--

"I think he had a digimon, too. Stingmon, was that his name?"

They both dropped their food in shock. Surely, Mimi must have confused the murderer with a nice, quiet drifter named Ken who had a digimon partner named Stingmon.

"Forget I mentioned it," Mimi laughed, trying to break the tension. "Anyway, do you need some help with your… um, obi?"

"Ah! Yes, please!"

"And you, her little samurai Hawkmon, must need a little something, too," she smiled, and Hawkmon beamed at the title. This alternate reality wasn't going to be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Whoa… I only put up the first chapter not even 24 hours ago and it's already pushed to the second page? And I thought the Fushigi Yuugi section was bad. I'll persevere, though!

A good point was made in a review I got on the first chapter: Japan doesn't use the western calendar system in 1647! Just to make it flow better, I'm keeping a few details like that in there. Historical fiction is much funner when you can blame the characters for changing things. Bad Miyako, bad!

* * *

Taichi walked through the halls of the castle quietly as he peaked in on his younger sister, Hikari. She was doting on Tailmon as always, feeding her fine foods and grooming her like a precious doll. Tailmon, of course, didn't mind. Their pampered life in the castle sheltered them from knowing anything about the horrible things that happened outside the walls.

Hikari, for some time, had been promised to Lord Daisuke in marriage, but never had much of an interest in him. Despite the young lord's continual attempts to impress her, she never seemed to notice. Taichi found the whole situation sort of cute.

"Master Taichi!" a man's voice came from behind him. "Lord Daisuke seeks an audience with you!"

"Hmph," he said as he followed. Being Daisuke's advisor was more trouble than it was worth sometimes, he thought.

Miyako, for most of the night, had been telling Mimi wonderful things about the digital world, how it had everything from large, powerful digimon who only wanted to sleep and play karaoke to small aggressive digimon, different landscapes, and new surprises everywhere she went. Mimi listened intensively, trying to imagine such a place in her head.

"It sounds like so much fun!" she sighed contently.

"Well, not always," she grew very quiet. "Bad things can happen, too." She looked over to Hawkmon, who sipped his tea and didn't look back.

"Through the good or bad though," Mimi said, "You're very lucky to have a digimon partner. Since I've known Takeru and Iori, and their digimon, I've often had day dreams about it… having friend who will always protect me."

Miyako again bit her lip to resist telling her about Palmon. They both must be very lonely without each other, but knowing they're apart would be even harder for them. Not wanting to see Mimi like this, she resolved to make things right as soon as possible.

The next morning, Mimi had packed up their bag with extra food and clothes and sent them off with luck. Miyako strutted along as confidently as she could in her tight kimono, and Hawkmon couldn't wipe the grin off his face because he was wearing a samurai-styled coat and a white band around his head. But best of all, Mimi had sheathed a long cooking knife for him to use as a sword. Of course, it was nothing compared to what he could do with his head feather, but carrying it still made him proud.

"Which way should we go, Miyako?"

"To the castle of course."

"Yes, but which one? There's a few," he pointed out into the distance at all the tops of the castles.

"The biggest one, of course!"

Hawkmon, being a digimon, was getting stared at from all directions. In his new garb, of course he wanted a little attention, but kept up his defensive atmosphere.

"Do you think we should alert someone about… that?" they'd whisper to each other.

"Who should we tell?"

Miyako paid them no mind as she continued her mission. As the whispers became louder and more frequent, however, she started to walk with a little bit quicker of a pace, until she and Hawkmon were in a full on sprint (for as fast as she could move in a kimono, anyway).

Moving through the crowd was easy, until she accidently knocked someone about her height down flat. "Oh! I'm very sorry!" she bowed and offered a hand to help him up. He obliged, and let her pick him back up to his feet. Doing so, she caught a glimpse of his face and got a flustered smile. It was Koushirou! He nodded his head to thank her for helping him up (as well as forgive her for knocking him down in the first place).

Hawkmon was just as pleased to run into him (literally), but felt a chill down his back as Koushirou sent him an unusual smile. Miyako made him snap back into the moment as she started cheering about having found him, but before she could reintroduce herself to him, he had vanished back into the crowd.

"Hmph," she said. "And we really could have used his help, too."

"We'll be fine on our own, Miyako. Let's just get going."

"You're not going anywhere!" a loud voice said from behind them. They turned around to see another small group of trembling men, holding out their swords. "We're not going to let that digimon get away!"

Elsewhere, Taichi supported his head with the palm of his hand, trying to keep from looking bored as the young lord spoke.

"I heard some reports from my gaurds- who heard from some other gaurds- who heard from some merchants or somebody- that there was another digimon in the area! I-I-I-I thought it was just me and Hikari who had digimon around here! What's this all supposed to mean? Do they want to fight us, too? After all, XV-mon and I weren't able to… you know…"

"Chill out, Daisuke," Taichi said. "I heard the reports, too. It sounds like it was just a little one, not even as strong as Tailmon. You have nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure, Taichi?" the younger boy pouted, trying to hide his concern.

His advisor smiled. He sincerely wanted to make sure things were safe, since he wasn't very confident after what had happened with the Yamaki yakuza clan recently. "Do you miss her?"

"Miss who?"

"Your sister, Jun."

"No, not really," he shrugged. Taichi sighed in slight irritation.

"It's probably not worth your time to worry about. Besides, your digimon is patrolling the area, so if they cause any trouble, he'll stop them."

Daisuke smiled. "I'm glad he's strong, so those yakuza guys won't try messing with him. But even considering that, we still let them…"

"You're much stronger than them," Taichi rolled his eyes. "You're just too disorganized, and that's why they got away with it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right!" the young lord laughed at himself. "Well, thanks anyway, Taichi. I'll try not to worry about it."

"Of course, Lord Daisuke. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some other matters to tend to…"

"Oooohhh. Lady matters?" he teased.

"Yes, 'lady matters'!" Taichi snapped back as he headed out. He sighed heavily, glad to be free to go visit his fiance at the flower arranging school.

"Don't let them touch you, Hawkmon!" Miyako commanded. Her digimon nodded in reply as he fingered the knife at his side.

"D-Don't make us hurt the girl, too! Just come quietly!" one of the men ordered.

"Is it going to kill us?" one man asked another.

"Ssh! They can sense fear!"

Hawkmon and Miyako shared a simultaneous sweat drop. "They're not animals, you know."

"This won't take long, Miyako," Hawkmon swiftly pulled the knife from it's sheath. The men shuttered and cowered back a step or two. "Not so brave now, are you, men? Not when I slice you with this!"

A large, blue figure watched from nearby shadows, raised his eyebrows in intrigue, wondering what Hawkmon would do next.

As Hawkmon made a dramatic motion, however, it slide from his hand and plopped onto the ground. Obviously, it was not intended to be used by feathered hands.

"Get him now!" the men charged. This time, the two of them instinctively ran the other way in a panic.

"I'm sorry, Miyako! I didn't mean to drop it!"

"It's not your fault! You should just use something that's fitted just for you!"

They disappeared around a corner, and before the men could followed, the saw a bright light and heard a new digimon's voice yell out it's name: Shurimon. The blue figure nearby widened his eyes, having never seen such a form of digivolution before.

The men started running back in the other direction, screaming their apologies and pleading with the digimon for their lives. Their wives waited at the other end of the street, though, and their stern faces ordered to turn around and fight like the men they were. Reluctantly, they did so, and started clashing swords with Shurimon's stars.

"That's enough of that," the blue figure finally interrupted. The men stopped, seeing that they were in XV-mon's presence.

"Y-Your Lordship!" they cheered. "We'll leave this to you! You'll defeat him!"

"Aw, man," Miyako groaned and whacked her forehead.

Shurimon, though not wanting to fight his friend, readied himself. XV-mon merely laughed. "Your work is done here, men. Nothing else to see."

The group of men blinked, shrugged, and left slowly, a little disappointed. The large blue figure shrunk down into a smaller form, and met the two visitors with a wide smile. "I think Daisuke would like to meet you. I'll go take you to the castle myself."

Miyako's face brightened up at the invitation as Shurimon reverted to his smaller form. "Thank you so much, V-mon!"

"Did I already introduce myself?" the little digimon blinked.

"N-no! You're just that famous around here!" she laughed nervously. "But please take us to see Daisuke- I mean, Lord Daisuke."

As they happily followed him through the city, a certain other digimon was busy in the country side. Common thugs were everywhere now a days, and he saw it his duty to put them in their place. Or rather, Stingmon was only fighting these people because his partner insisted.

"That's the last of them," Stingmon said tossed another unconscious man onto the pile. Ken nodded, and his long pony tail flapped in the wind as he turned around to face the men's victim.

"Is this all the money they took, Miss?" he asked a frightened woman, and handed the jingling chain to her. She counted it quickly, then dashed off without a word. Ken hmphed.

Reverting to his more comfortable form, Wormmon trudged to his side. "That certainly was rude. She didn't even say thanks."

"People are just nervous around digimon, that's all," he replied warmly. "It's nothing to worry about."

Wormmon's sad eyes searched the ground. "You say that, Ken, but I can tell you're just as hurt by how people see you."

"We can't change what people think of us, Wormmon," his voice became a little hushed. "At least Master was willing to look past our partnership and trained us."

"Too bad he disappeared on us, huh? I wonder what that 'mission' of his was," the digimon asked. Ken didn't reply.

"…Yamato."

Sora's face was towards the window, but her eyes didn't focus on anything. A familiar voice broke her daze.

"So here's my favorite fiance," Taichi poked his head around the door of the room with a wide grin. "My one and only, after all."

"Ta-taichi!" She spun around and smoothed out her vibrant kimono. It was becoming less and less unusual for him to surprise her there. Normally, the prestigious flower arranging school she attended would shoo unwelcome guests, but finally got tired of chasing the feudal lord's advisor away.

He casually took a seat next to her, never wiping off his grin. Nothing could brighten his day quite as much as her attention. "How are you, Sora?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"Hmm," his glance wandered down to her unfinished project, which only a few lonely flowers occupied. "It looks like you're distracted with this one."

"Oh, Taichi, you know I'm not that fond of living here and doing this. It can stay that way for all I care."

"Awfully feisty today, aren't you?" he pouted. "If that's the case, can I finish it?"

"No!" she shouted and defensively put her arms out in front of it. The two of them took a moment to notice how she reacted. Taichi laughed.

"Deep down, you really must like it if you're going to be that protective of it!"

"Hmm. Maybe, maybe not," she blushed and looked away. Her fiance leaned closer to her.

"Are you ever going to show that deep down part of yourself to me again, Sora?" he asked in a romantic, but very serious tone. Her eyes widened and she choked on her response. Disappointed, he sat back away from her. "I see. It's _him_, isn't it."

"I'm sorry, Taichi," she whispered. "I just… don't feel that I can marry you anymore."

He furrowed his eyebrows and he sprang back to his feet. "I wish you wouldn't be so quick to decide that."

"I can't decide how I feel," she turned her head away from him in shame. "But I'm sorry."

"I can't force you into anything, Sora, but all I ask is that you don't break our engagement just yet," he said on his way out. Once out the door, he finished the statement, "Wait until I get Yamato out of your life once and for all."


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again, readers! Just so it's said and because I don't like smashing the description up with a long listed of couple phrases, I'll say this now: Don't expect anything to get very romantic. There will be hints of a ton of couplings, whether I like them or not, but if you don't like them, they'll be easy enough to ignore. But I do strongly support Kenyako, for example, so there will be more of that than other couples. But don't get too worked up over it.

* * *

Jyou sighed heavily and rested his chin on his palm. Studying to be a doctor was no treat, but having to pay for those expenses by doing the firm's accounting was enough to make his brain melt. On the verge of sleep, he jumped back awake when the door slid open next to him, causing him to fumble his pen.

"Sloppy as usual," the visitor said. "How is my budget for this looking?"

"Oh, Koushirou," he blinked and looked back at his papers for his information. He was silently relieved it wasn't one of his brothers who came in, because they'd probably berate him for falling asleep on the job. "They've deducted 10 mon from your account. Sorry…"

"That's not a problem," he looked completely unaffected by the amount. It sounded like a lot to Jyou, but looking back at how much Koushirou's project still had, it wasn't very stiffeling. "How is your medical training coming?"

"Ha. Ha ha ha," he laughed nervously.

"That good, huh?" the younger boy smiled. Jyou smiled back, pleased that someone of such a higher rank would treat him with such respect.

Back in Daisuke's castle, the young lord's voice could be heard through out the entire hall. "You brought them here?"

"Calm down, Daisuke! Hawkmon's strong!" V-mon sweated a little at his reaction.

"That's just what I was afraid of, V-mon! Aw, maaaan!"

Miyako and Hawkmon wondered how long it would take before they could talk with him in a more level headed state. His yelling was interrupted by a small voice at the door.

"Is everything alright out here, Lord Daisuke?" Hikari asked with a curious face. Her decorative kimono almost engulfed Tailmon, who was carried in her arm like a doll. "Oh, what's this? I didn't know you were inviting any girls to the castle."

"I-- no. Wait, Hikari, I didn't invite her in here. I'm being completely faithful!" he bent down on his knees to grovel before her. "I'll get rid of her right away so you don't have any reason to feel nervous about me--"

"What's your name?" Hikari asked as she playfully tugged Miyako into her room, completely ignoring her betroved.

"Ah, Hikari," she smiled, though found it a little awkward to be dragged in. Even though they knew Hikari so well, Hawkmon still felt compelled to follow as Miyako's guard anyway.

"What's your name?" she asked again, very pleased to have a new playmate.

"Wha? Oh, I'm Miyako. Nice to meet you, I guess…"

The door slid shut behind them, leaving Daisuke with his jaw the floor. "Hi… kari?"

"Well… Hawkmon _is _strong," V-mon continued. "I have to tell you about this armor-digivolving thing he did. These two might be just what we need to get it back!"

"Oh?" his eyes widened as his attention was put in a completely different direction. "Go on."

Back behind the doors, Hikari served the two new guests a plate of mochi each.

"I thought that was mine," Tailmon teased.

"You eat too much of it anyway," Hikari teased back. The two of them giggled as Miyako and Hawkmon felt a little uneasy with their cheerful dispositions.

"So, um, Hikari, I see you have a digimon partner as well," she adjusted her glasses casually. "Have you run into any trouble?"

"Trouble?" she continued to leave the bubbly smile on her face. "Of course not. Tailmon and I don't have anything to worry about here."

"Nothing to worry about?"

"Nothing at all," Tailmon continued. "We have good food, a warm place to sleep at night, little gifts from Daisuke and V-mon all the time, and no reason to fight. I'm probably out of shape by now with all the attention, but I don't really mind."

"Having a digimon partner is so wonderful," Hikari contently closed her eyes and hugged Tailmon fondly.

Hawkmon's heart sank as he thought back to everything Patamon and Armadimon went though everyday with Takeru and Iori. They had to hide so that regular people wouldn't attack them, and wouldn't even know if they would eat everyday. Surely, they were weak because of that life style, quite opposite of Tailmon's.

"Is it always that wonderful?" Miyako raised her voice, thinking of the same thing. "Don't you know how hard it is to have a digimon partner around here?"

Hikari looked at her blankly, unsure what she meant. Before she could ask for clarification, the door slid open behind her and an excited boy climbed into the room on his knees. "Excuuuuse me, Miss Miyako, could I see you and Hawkmon now? Erm, is that alright, Hikari?"

'Miss Miyako?' That was probably something she'd never hear out of Daisuke again.

"Aw, you're already taking them away from me, Daisuke?" Hikari tried to pout, but the persistent little smile still wouldn't go away.

"I'm not taking anything from you!" he waved his arms around. "H-H-How about a trade? You can go, um, take something of mine to keep you busy for a while!"

"…Anything?"

"Yes! Anything!"

"Yay, Tailmon!" she cheered. "Let's go paint over those shuji screens!"

"Finally!" Tailmon smiled widely. "I was getting sick of looking at that ugly painting that's already on them!"

"What? You're going to paint over my Bishamonten screens?" he shrieked. "But that's the God of war! He's a symbol of courage!"

Hikari and Tailmon paid no attention to him as they shuffled out. The young lord sighed heavily before turning to his guests, who were trying to stiffle their laughter. "What's your problem?"

"Ha ha ha! Hikari always had him wrapped around her finger, huh, Hawkmon?"

"Yes, but I think now she's enjoying it a lot more!"

"...That's not funny."

"Y-yes it is!" Miyako wiped a little tear away as she settled down. "But you're right, Hawkmon, something's a little too happy-go-lucky about her now."

Daisuke's eyes shifted in the other direction as he hushed his voice. "Yeah, um, about that… can you please not talk to her about digimon and stuff?"

Their laughter stopped. "Why?"

"Her brother has always shielded her from everything that happens out there to digimon. He thinks that what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"So you're protecting her from the truth?" Hawkmon gave him a harsh glance. "That's more cruel that letting her know what happens, I think."

"I think so, too," Daisuke and V-mon continued to stay very quiet. "But this is what Taichi wants, so I'll let him handle it." The group didn't say anything for a moment, so he continued on a lighter note. "I hear that Hawkmon is able to digivolve!"

"Of course I can," he stuck his beak up in a dignified manner. "I'm still very strong."

"Me too," V-mon said. "But you're able to digivolve in a way I've never seen before. What was it? Armor digivolving?"

"Oh, that," Miyako laughed. "You probably wouldn't think it was so cool if you were still able to do it."

"Still able to do it?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing! Anyway, we were really hoping to come see you, Da--_Lord _Daisuke. Hawkmon and I aren't from around here, and we need to get back to the digital world."

"The digital world?" he raised his eyebrows. "You've been there?"

She nodded. "And we really, really need to get back. I have my digivice, so all I need it-"

"A digivice?" V-mon stood up. "I remember hearing about those way, way back when I still lived in the digital world. Weren't they little containers of light or something? And couldn't they make digimon stronger if their partner had one?"

"Well, yeah," she said as she offered her D-3 out for them to see. Daisuke and V-mon leaned closer to it to get a good look.

"C-Can I touch it?"

"Um… sure," she handed it to the curious boy. He held it very carefully, and observed his reflection in it before pressing a button.

"Wow! Something's in there!"

"That's just an image on the screen, silly," she said. He continued pressing buttons to see what they'd do, until he started asking aloud to himself what would happen if he held down a few of them at once. "Don't do that!" she yelled and took it back abruptly.

Hawkmon felt a twinge in his stomach as she quietly held it her chest defensively, and suddenly looked very dazed. That twinge might have sympathy, but more likely than not, it was hunger. He took a bit of Tailmon's mochi and changed the subject. "Yes, that's a digivice. But it's not all we need."

"Well, go on. What else do you need?"

"A computer. We heard that you took care of the only one around here."

V-mon and Daisuke's expressions changed into muddled faces that Hawkmon and Miyako couldn't quite read, so they continued.

"I realize you must be very, very protective of it, but we know what we're doing. We'll be just as careful with it as you are."

"That won't be hard."

"Shush, Miyako."

"So, Lord Daisuke, can we see it? Please?"

No response.

"Lord Daisuke?"

"A-about that," he sweated a bit. "You see, um, we were sort of hoping you'd help us with that."

"Oh really," Miyako smiled awkwardly. "You… don't know how to boot it up or something?"

"No, there's nothing to boot up."

"Don't tell me you broke it?" she yelled in disbelief. "I might be able to fix it if you didn't do anything too bad to it, but…"

"Well, I hope it's not broken," he continued dodging the subject.

"Just show it to me already and I'll work with it!" she yelled as Hawkmon begged her to calm down.

"That's just it," Daisuke had a very guilty, awkward grin on his face. "We sort of, um… well…"

"We lost it," V-mon finished for him. "It's not here anymore." Miyako and Hawkmon felt flat on their faces, flabbergasted.

"It's not really that we _lost _it," Daisuke continued in a more serious tone. "It was stolen by the Yamaki."

"The... Yamaki?"

"They're a yakuza clan that has been giving us trouble for a long time," he said. "Recently, they stormed the castle to take it away."

"Along with his sister, Jun," V-mon added.

"Aw, who cares about that," he rolled his eyes. "We just need to get the computer back. And that's why we're so lucky that you came along, Miyako and Hawkmon."

"Hmm?" they blinked.

"V-mon and I can't go tracking them down because we have to stay here and watch over the castle," Daisuke sighed, wishing sometimes that he didn't have such a high rank. "So in our stead, you can go track them down."

"What?" Miyako stood up in surprise. "You want us to go take on the yakuza? Are you crazy? We don't have time to--"

"Well, if you really need the computer, you can make time," he answered with a harsh tone. "If you won't help us, we can't help you!"

Miyako bit her lip. It looked like there was no choice.

* * *

Yes... I called them the Yamaki. It sounded better than Hypnos! But don't worry, this is a 02 centric story, and it probably won't make any other fun little Tamers references. X3 


	4. Chapter 4

-1

After Miyako and Hawkmon agreed to help Daisuke, they spend the rest of the day enjoying the castle's hospitality.

"Oniichaaaan," Hikari sing-songed through the halls. "Come see what we did to the Bishamonten screens!"

Before he answered his sister's calls, Daisuke stopped him. "Taichi, you don't look very good. Did something happen?"

"Nothing new, Daisuke," he responded flatly.

The young lord grew a wide smile. "Sora 'accidently' dumped one of her vases on you again, didn't she?"

"Knock it off, Daisuke!"

"Hang on, Taichi. You know that new digimon we heard about, and his partner?"

Taichi turned back around to face him, with a curious expression. "Yes?"

Daisuke returned his glance confidently. "It turns out, they _are _strong. And they're going to help us get the computer back."

Matters were to be settled on in the morning, so the young lord's new accomplices slept soundly in one of the cozy guest rooms. Elsewhere outside the castle, though, the night was cold, and not everyone could afford to sleep indoors.

Takeru and Iori were curled up in their cart, cuddled up to their digimon for warmth. The blanket covering the top of the cart flapped a little in the wind, and sometimes would blow enough for the moon to shine through.

The quick flashes of light were enough for Takeru to look over and notice his young friend was still awake. "What are you thinking about?" he whispered.

"Do you think we can just leave her by herself?"

"She's not by herself. She has Hawkmon," he offered, trying to hide that he was thinking the same thing. "Besides, Patamon and Armadimon aren't strong enough to help fight."

"She still doesn't know what she's getting herself into," Iori continued. "Besides, they'll be attacked by people, not digimon."

"You're right," the blonde boy's heart sank. They both knew how heartless people could be, and how peaceful their digimon were in comparison.

"I'm getting better and better," the younger boy said, almost as if to change the subject. "But I'm only able to do so much with a wooden stick."

Takeru chuckled. "Sorry about that. Kimonos really tend to take away from the katana fund, huh?" Secretly, he was glad that Miyako's purchase had set further away from buying a sword for Iori. As much as he wanted justice, Takeru didn't want to see his hands stained with blood yet.

"Don't worry about it," Iori turned on his side facing away from him. "Good night, Takeru."

"G' night, Iori."

"Good morning!" rang through Miyako's ears as someone pulled the thick blanket off her back. She shrieked as the cold air send a shiver down her spine, and light flooded the room.

"Knock it off, Sis!" she turned over, only to realize that this wasn't her own bed.

"Did you hear that, Tailmon? She wants to be sisters," Hikari joked to her digimon. Miyako looked over at them sleepily as Hawkmon ruffled his feathers in an effort to wake up.

"What are you doing in here so early?" she yawned.

"Daisuke thought it would be too weird to wake you up himself, so we came instead," she said.

"My… how thoughtful of you," Hawkmon moaned.

"That, and Taichi told us to," Tailmon added. "He wants to see you pronto."

"What did we do now?"

Taichi tapped his foot and waited behind Daisuke, a little anxious about trusting the national treasure to these strangers. "So, you must be Miyako and Hawkmon?"

"Hi, Taichi," she waved. He seemed a little more aggressive than usual, so she felt nervous.

"Don't act like you know me or something," he folded his arms.

"Someone's a little cranky this morning," Hawkmon whispered.

"He really wanted to go with you guys and get in on the action," Hikari whispered to them. "But Daisuke told him to stay here."

"So how much do you know about this mission?" the cranky advisor asked. "Do you even know what it is you're looking for? There's nothing in the world like our computer."

"That's sounds awfully pompous from someone who'se never been to the digital world," Miyako wagged her finger. "I'm very, very familiar with computers. Where I come from, they're everywhere."

"Then why didn't you just go there?"

"Forget that! I also know that's it been taken by the Yamaki yakuza clan- who you guys don't really know much about, it seems- and they're notorious for causing trouble."

"Yes," said Taichi. "Especially when it has something to do with digimon."

"Not a problem, not a problem," she half-ignored him. "So basically, we have to find them, get the computer back, and then we use it to return to the digital world. What else do we have to know?"

"You seem awfully eager to go," the older boy tilted his head. "Really, that's about all the information we can give you. But you're getting away without some advice, too."

"Bring out the prune juice and give it to me."

"What? Prune juice?"

"Never mind, it's and inside joke. What's the advice?"

Before Taichi spoke, he looked around Miyako at Hikari, who was listening intently. "Hikari, would you please go get the sack I packed for them in my room?"

"Why can't Daisuke do it?" she pouted, being very curious about what this advice was. Instinctively, Daisuke already started heading towards Taichi's room to do it, but his advisor reached out his hand to plant his head in one place.

"Because Daisuke's the feudal lord. He needs to stand here and look important. Now hurry and get that." Her shoulders slumped down as she and Tailmon left, and once he was sure they were out of ear-shot, Taichi turned his focus back to Miyako and Hawkmon.

"People around here are familiar with V-mon and his status, so they don't mess with him. But Hawkmon's going to attract trouble."

"I can handle trouble," said the digimon firmly. "But I'll also do my best to avoid it."

"That might work to our advantage anyway," Miyako added. "If the Yamaki cause trouble related to digimon, naturally they'll be curious about him and start showing themselves."

"I guess you could look at it that way," Taichi scratched the back of his neck. "But try not to get too friendly with anyone around here. Most of the people will be nervous around a digimon, and you don't know who you can trust."

"We know that first hand," she responded. "Anything else?"

"Yes, there's someone you should definitely avoid," his tone became very deep. "A wanderer with fair hair named--"

"Yamato?" Miyako smiled.

Taichi blinked, and then grew stern again. "So you've already met him?"

"No, no, it was just a lucky guess," she laughed.

"That guy is really slick. He also tends to poke his nose around wherever the Yamaki are involved."

"So you think he's one of their hitmen or something?"

"I can't say for sure. All I know is that you should avoid him, and if you do run into him, watch yourself."

"I understand," she nodded.

"If that's all, we should get going," Hawkmon invited himself back into the conversation.

"Wait! You need this!" Hikari ran back in with a small sack, and placed it in Miyako's hands. "Because Taichi can't go, you'll need to take this for him."

"Gee, thanks!" she smiled, and put it in the larger sack Mimi had given her the day before. "Well, we'll come back soon with a computer, guys! Oh, wait, Dai-- Lord Daisuke, I forgot to ask, what do you want us to do about your sister?"

"Leave her."

"Daisuke!" Taichi and Hikari both scolded him.

"Fine! Fine, she can help you carry things home," he whined. "Now get going."

Hawkmon donned his little samurai coat again and tied the white sash around his head again to put himself back in the samurai mindset. Look out, Edo.

Mimi, elsewhere, was serving for her customers as usual. She heard gossip from a couple of gruff men that XV-mon had brought the new digimon and his partner to the castle, and giggled to herself silently, congratulating Miyako in her head. Everyone in the restaurant looked towards the door, though, when two boys speaking a completely foreign language walked in, arguing about something to each other. Both of them had bright blonde hair, and were dressed like those few Westerners who would sometimes sail over to Japan in an attempt to trade, despite the ban of foreign goods that was in effect. The less than warm welcome didn't stop them, though.

This was Mimi's first time seeing them, but bit her lip and told herself to be friendly to them anyway. They were customers, after all.

"We got completely turned around, Captain!" the younger one said. "We should have stopped and asked for directions."

The captain replied in an annoyed tone. "You're the interpreter. That's your job, not mine."

"You didn't give me a chance to!"

"Of course I didn't, Wallace! We were too busy hitch hiking, like you suggested!"

"What else could we do? Our boat is totaled!"

"What does that have to do with how we get around on land?"

"Ummm, excuse me? Could I ask you to keep your voices down?" Mimi asked nervously.

"Oh," the captain said as he saw her. "A geisha!"

"No, no, no, no, no, Captain! This is a waitress!" the interpreter yelled.

Hearing the commotion, Mimi's mother peaked out from the kitchen where she and her husband were working. "Oh, look, Dear! Foreigners!"

"Hmm, you're right, Sweetie. How interesting!"

Mimi still wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation as the younger Westerner continued shouting at his confused Captain. The Captain finally started to plug his ears and pretend not to listen anymore.

"You'll have to forgive my foolish Captain Michael," the interpreter hung his head and forced his companion to do the same. "I would like just a small serving of dango. Don't trouble yourself getting anything for this man."

Obviously not understanding what he said to her in Japanese, the Captain smiled and added, "Pretty please?"

The waitress laughed nervously and thanked her lucky stars that Miyako and Hawkmon, despite being from the digital world, spoke her language the entire time.

Those two, meanwhile, had only gone a short distance from the castle before sitting down to see just what was in the pouch Taichi gave them.

"Do you think we'll find a tag and crest or something? Or maybe some extra cash! Cash would be great, considering we don't have any…"

"Why don't you just open it and find out, Miyako?"

She dug her fingers through through the opening to push the sides apart and peer inside. "It's food."

"Food?"

"Dry, bland food."

"Well," Hawkmon shifted. "Beggars can't be choosers."

"We didn't beg for it, Hawkmon," she groaned.

"In that case, don't look a gift-horse in the mouth."

"Would you please knock off the adages?" her glasses slid down her nose. As she pushed them back up, however, she noticed something else in the bag. "What do you suppose this is?"

Hawkmon peered at the clay emblem she had in her hands. All it appeared to be was an slate with the crest of courage engraved in it, and a small loop of ribbon at the top. "I don't know how that's going to be useful to us, Miyako. But you better hang onto it, just in case."

"It'd be useful if it were cash," she moped and slid it over her wrist and sighed. "So what do we do now?"

"That's a good question," the digimon mused. "Taichi said not to draw attention to ourselves, but to scope out these yakuza, it looks like we may have to…"

"Right. We don't really know this place very well, so we don't have the first idea where to look. Maybe we should go find someone we know to help us."

"We might know them," Hawkmon chuckled. "But they won't know us!"

"Yeah, you're right about that," she sweated. "And from what we understand, some of our old friends might have changed for the worse here."

"Let's not worry about that right now, Miyako," he held her hand, able to tell that what they heard about a couple people bothered her. "We'll make it right."


	5. Chapter 5

Just wondering, Readers, which characters & situations are you most enjoying this? Which are you most eager to see more of?

* * *

"How many times do I have to ask you to do this," a young man leaned against the door frame. "Just show us how to use it."

Jun clenched her fists in her lap. "I already told you, I won't do it! You kidnappers!"

Another man, slightly younger, came up from behind the other. "Give it a rest for today, Shuu."

The older one grimaced, before walking over to Jun's side to look her in the eye. "We'll try this again tomorrow. I hope you'll be ready."

Jun continued glaring at him until he turned off the light and shut the door on his way out. She then let herself relax, and blood rushed to her cheeks. Even if those two men were her kidnappers, they were still young men who were pouring hours of their attention into her. In a way, she was a little blissful.

Her better mind told her not to show them how to use the computer because she was loyal to her family, but her real self told her not to show them so that they'd spent more time trying to get her to do things for them. It was a little sly on her part, but she didn't feel that guilty.

The first half day of Miyako and Hawkmon's quest was proving unfruitful, eventful, and unsatisfying. Hawkmon obviously had more self-control to last him through lunch time than Miyako did, though.

"Just one. Just one, little--"

"I said no, Miyako!" he snapped back at his pleading partner. "I'm not going to cause an explosion to attract the yakuza's attention! Now would you settle down?"

"This is getting us no where," she whined loud enough for several passer-bys to take notice. "At this rate, we'll never get back to the digital world!"

"Would you please be a little quieter about that?" he scolder her. "Besides, we've only been looking around for a few hours. We should expect this to take at least a few weeks, I would suppose."

"We don't even know who we're looking for,"she leaned against the post of a shop. "Yakuza should wear obvious clothes to let us know where they are."

"That would make things easier, wouldn't it?" Hawkmon sighed. "But have you ever seen a villain do something that obvious?"

Before she could respond, a strange voice bellowed out, "I've found you! Those characters from the digital world!"

At the other side of the crowd, a tall man in dark, heavy clothes that covered his face and hands was charging in their direction. Without thinking about how this might be a stroke of good fortune, the two of them quickly darted away.

"Halt!" the man yelled. "Stop right there! I won't let you get away!"

Catching her breath for a moment, Miyako spotted a bend in the line of shops, and pulled Hawkmon towards it. "In here!"

The crowd thinned out down the alley so they could run faster, but ultimately were faced with a dead end. Her glasses slid down her nose in disbelief. "Someone planned this, didn't they! Quick, Hawkmon, turn around and--"

Turning around, however, the mysterious man had already caught up to them, and was making a beeline straight for them. Hawkmon's samurai instincts kicked in as he whipped the feather off his head and threw it at the attacker. Stunned, the man stepped back and observed the wounds on his hand. Apparently, he must be used to that sort of thing, because his fingers were already covered in bandages. "So you want to play that way, huh? You think you can take me on, Little Bird?"

Without replying, Hawkmon readied himself to throw the feather again. The man reached behind his back for the weapon he carried there, but stopped abruptly. Miyako watched curiously as he moaned, and then collapsed into a little heap on the ground.

Behind him stood Iori, who was holding a wooden stick. Apparently, he was responsible for knocking the strange man out. Takeru was catching up behind him, slowed down by the cart he was pushing.

"Iori!" Miyako shouted and caught her breath. "Thanks! You really saved our necks!" Though he wouldn't say it, Hawkmon felt as though his glory was intruded on.

"You probably weren't in too much trouble," the boy shrugged it off. "That guy tends to lurk around here. He's given us some problems before, but all he does is play bluffs."

"Oh… really," Miyako lifted her hand to push her glasses back up. Doing so revealed the small clay slate that hung off her wrist. Takeru and Iori's eyes grew noticeably wide. "What's the matter, guys?"

The two boys both grew very wide smiles and started rubbing their hands together as they jumped to either side of her. "Well, Miyako, it looks like that kimono is already a little dirty, isn't it?" Takeru observed.

"And no one wears the same things two days in row here," Iori added. "We wouldn't want you to learn that the hard way."

"Really?" she blinked. "It looks like you guys have been wearing the same thing for weeks."

The two of them backed away and tried to think of an excuse. "Well, of course! We can't afford to have a change of clothes!"

"Besides," Takeru added as he struck a masculine pose. "We're men!" Iori gave him a glance that said 'you can't be serious', but a second glance from the blonde boy made him reluctantly join in with his own pose. "It's only beautiful girls such as yourself who have to worry about variety!"

"Well, I'm flattered," she said slowly, noticing something fishy was going on. "But why are you telling me all this?"

The boy's smiles grew wider as they threw the sheet off of their cart to show off the display of fabrics. "We're telling you because we just so happen to be able to help!"

"This fabric would be especially flattering on you, Miyako!" Iori held a spool of a dark pink, cotton-like substance up to her.

"Really? I though this would look better," Takeru showed off a light green pattern.

Iori flashed another smile in Miyako's direction. "But wouldn't it better…."

"…If you put them together?" Takeru added. The two off them struck another pose and draped the fabrics together, waiting for Miyako's response.

Their hopes were dashed as she replied, "Now _that_ was scripted."

They pouted and started putting the fabrics back away. "So much for that routine."

Hawkmon laughed. "No, it was quite entertaining."

"I can see you guys want to make the sale, and I'd love to buy something," Miyako observed the fabrics. "But I'm a little short on cash myself."

"A little short?" Patamon jumped out of the pile of clothes. "What are you trying to pull? You're loaded!"

"Loaded? Me?" she jumped back, a little startled. "There must be some kind of misunderstanding."

"There sure must be," Armadimon poked his nose out as well. "Do you even know what you're carrying?"

Hawkmon blinked. "You mean, the thing Taichi gave us?"

"That's not just any 'thing', Hawkmon," Takeru rubbed his forehead nervously. "If someone has that, it means all of their purchases are charged to the feudal lord."

Miyako's face lit up. "Really? This is better than cash! We've got a credit card!"

"A what?"

"That was awfully nice of Taichi to do that," Hawkmon said to her. "Make sure nothing bad happens to that."

"Of course not," she held to her cheek fondly as she started salivating. "My first credit card… wow."

"I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but as long as you know what it does," Takeru continued and motioned to the fabrics. "But since you have the money, would you like to get back to what you said just a second ago? About wanting to buy something? Anything?"

"Oh," she struggled, having only said that to be nice. "Well, we're actually trying to travel light, so… we don't have any place to put anything."

"It can stay in the cart," Iori offered. "After all, we're going with you."

"Really?" Hawkmon perked up with her. As happy as she was to hear her friends were going with her, a twinge of guilt hit her as she clutched the kimono she was already wearing.

"You know what? As long as we're traveling together, we don't need to take care of that all right now, do we?" she smiled. "How about you guys push the cart, and I'll take care of the tab."

A happy agreement was reached and the troupe set off. While Patamon and Armadimon offered for Hawkmon to ride safely with them, he politely refused. After all, he was a samurai now. Hiding was far from his mind.

Shortly after they left the alley, the strange man began to rouse again. "Curses… they got away. The boss won't want to hear about this."

Little did he know a red-headed boy, masked in shadows, was watching him. "No, he wouldn't want to hear about this at all, would he?"

"You!" the startled man whipped around to face him. "You're that brat who'se always stepping in on--"

"Stepping on what?" he feigned innocence and casually stepped on the man's bandaged fingers. He yelped as the boy smirked to himself. "Are you ready to tell me just what you're doing yet?" The man glared back, and knew he was in over his head again, so with a flick of his wrist he filled the alley with smoke and made his escape.

Seeing he was gone, the short boy laughed. "You're not what I'm concerned with right now, anyway."

The sky started to turn orange as the sun set. Sora observed the colors from her window, wistfully. Taichi had warned her not to involve herself with that mysterious person, but she couldn't take her mind off of him.

"You remind me of a sunset," he had said.

"Oh, really?" Sora had replied at the time. She was already swooning over the stranger, but was trying to keep herself from becoming more interested in him. Curiously, however, would not be stopped. "How so?"

The stranger started to get a very flustered expression as he casually brushed back his light hair. "It's your… your colors. You have a very colorful personality."

She looked away to hide the smile he had put on her face.

"But beyond that, it's also like you're trying to hide something," he said in a deep tone. "Just like the sunset tries to hide the sun."

Her heart beat faster as he held her chin to make her look him in the eye.

"Is there anyway we can return to the day time? Sora…"

In the present time, her eyes were closed as she dwelled on his words. Of course she was hiding things from him. And that's why he left.

"Sora!" a woman's voice said from behind her. "Your flower arranging master has already started her lecture! You should be present!"

"I'm sorry! I forgot!" she immediately sat up straight.

"No excuses, Missy!" the woman started to drag her along by the arm. "You're so scatterbrained! If your father wasn't paying so much money for you to attend this school, you would have been kicked out by now! Please, try to focus a little more."

"I'm sorry," was all she could muster. The lady continued.

"I understand that you're young and distracted. But Master Taichi keeps coming and coming, we can't get rid of him. So you'll have to make yourself focus despite all his visits!"

"Taichi? Oh, yes, you're right," she smiled. "I'll try harder not to think about him so much."

"That's a good girl," the woman smiled and shoved her in for her lesson.

As the sun set completely, Miyako proudly flashed the slate in front of an inn keeper, who all-too-happily showed the group to their rooms. Iori and Takeru's eyes crawled every wall as their jaws hung open.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Iori asked nervously. "This place must be very expensive."

"And I've always wanted to stay at a traditional inn!" Miyako mostly ignored him as she swung the slate around her finger. "Make sure eat well tonight, guys!"

Armadimon's eyes watered from inside the pile of fabric Iori was struggling to carry inside, considering they weren't allowed to bring in the cart. "Miyako must be the digi-angel of food!" he whispered to his partner. Once inside the room, he was very pleased to stretch his legs and walk around.

"I hope they don't mind claws on the tatami mats," Takeru observed. "So, Miyako, because you have that slate, does that mean you already had an audience in the castle?"

"I sure did," she said. "And guess what? Daisuke doesn't even have the computer anymore! So that's what we're looking for now."

"I see," he chuckled, a little nervous. "I was _wondering_ where we were going."

She shrugged. "I don't even know that myself. All we know is that those Yamaki yakuza stole it, and we have to find them. I'm glad you guys are coming along, though! You would know more that me about--"

Takeru lowered his head so that his hair covered his eyes. Mimi's words rang back through Miyako's head: "Takeru was the sole survivor of a yakuza raid. I think it might have had something to do with his having Patamon."

She put a hand over her mouth as the air in the room felt a little colder. "I'm sorry… I…"

"Don't worry about it," his glance shifted to the side. Despite his words, she could clearly hear the anger in his voice. "I'm sure Hawkmon here will give those yakuza a taste of their own medicine."

"Don't worry, Takeru," the digimon stood up and clentched his fist in determination. "We'll make things right."


	6. Chapter 6

-1

Takeru, Patamon, Iori, and Armadimon enjoyed their first big meal in years thanks to Miyako, and afterwards took one of the rooms to themselves. Hawkmon and Miyako took the other one, but he stood by the door the entire time.

"Get some sleep, Hawkmon," she turned over and eyed him while hugging the small pillow under her chin.

"I'm fine, Miyako," he stood up straight and peered around. She shrugged and let herself fall back asleep, not very concerned about his samurai game.

After the visit from the foreigners, business in the restaurant became quiet again, but Mimi's parents were still chattering about the Western boys. Mimi rolled her eyes and welcomed a new customer.

The boy took a seat. "I just need a small lunch, if you don't mind."

Obviously, this was a more polite customer than the others she had been having. Certainly not as flashy, either. She barely even noticed him as he sipped his tea.

"So I hear there's been talk of digimon around here lately?" he casually swished the beverage around in his cup. "A bird one, is it now?"

"That's right," she nodded.

"Hmm," he took a sip. "Have you seen him? I'm looking for a little more information."

"I just hear all sorts of rumors," she hushed herself and looked away. "I can't really tell you anything else."

"Just because someone says they can't tell you anything doesn't mean they don't know something," he chuckled softly to himself. "It's really all in the wording."

"It is, isn't it?" she pursed her lips, not sure what kind of character this boy was. "So, what do you need the information for?"

"I'm very curious," he smiled warmly. "The digimon must be able to effect our lives in way or another… I'd like to make sure every impact they make is a positive one. There's no sense in just letting the little monsters hide in nooks and crannies."

"Really?" she perked back up. "I think so, too! They shouldn't have to be on the run all the time."

"Because of everything going on, it makes them a little hard to track down," he grew a very distant look. After a pause, he scratched his short red hair. "Sorry, I started zoning out there."

She shook her head. "No problem. Say, what's your name?"

"I'm Koushirou," he offered a hand to her. "Koushirou Izumi."

"So, tell us," Takeru blinked awkwardly as Miyako met them at the door. "What's the matter with Hawkmon?"

"It's a little stupid, really," she blushed. "He thought he was acting macho by standing guard at my room all night. So now…" she looked at her digimon, who was sitting by the door and trying to keep himself from nodding off. "…he's too sleepy to be of any good today."

"There's still room for him in the cart!" Patamon offered. "We don't mind."

"Yeah, I'm just concerned about him throwing a fit about having to rest," she bit her nails and glanced back over at him in his half-asleep state.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Miyako," Takeru said. "In his condition, he probably wouldn't put up much of a fight."

"That's what _I'm_ concerned about," Iori came up from behind him. "Hawkmon is the strongest one of us, and we'll be in a lot of trouble if someone attacks today."

"I guess that means you'll have to be the one we trust to look after us today," Miyako pointed at him. He became very flustered and searched the floor for an excuse.

"I can't really… do that much…"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," she continued. "We'll just pack up Hawkmon and cover some ground today."

"Pack him up? It sounds like you treat him like luggage!" Takeru laughed.

"You're one to talk, Takeru!"

"Sorry, Patamon. Anyway, we're near the outskirts of town. It won't take long for us to hit the country side now," he continued. "Less civilization can be a good or a bad thing."

"For today, how about we see it as a good thing?" said Miyako. With nothing else to say, the group took off. Sure enough, the outskirts weren't very far off.

Jun waited anxiously for the door to open for another day of interrogation. Right on schedule, Shuu invited himself in. "Hello, Jun. Are you ready to help us today?"

"Of course not!" she stuck her nose up in the air and turned away. Playing hard to get was so much fun. "How do you even know I know how to use it? Daisuke would never even let me touch the thing!"

"It sounds like you're annoyed by that," he eyed her. "I can relate. So how about getting back at your little brother by messing with it?"

"Do you really think I'm that petty of a woman?" she looked him straight in the eye.

"No. I think you're just a petty _girl_," he smirked and looked away.

Jun pursed her lips, but then took a look around. "Say… where's Shin today? Isn't he coming, too?"

"He's got an experiment to conduct today."

"An experiment?"

As it turns out, it was an experiment of massive proportions, and was best performed in the country side, where only a few travelers ventured each day. The lucky travelers today were none other than Miyako's group.

Takeru pushed the cart as usual, and Iori walked along side him. Under the sheet and some fabric, the digimon stayed hidden, and Miyako casually sat on the rear end of the cart.

"Hmm," she peered at her digivice as it beeped. "Something's coming up, but I can't quite tell what it is."

"Is it an iceberg or something?" Armadimon asked from under the sheet. "Even under all of this, I suddenly got the chills."

"Really?" she felt her hand to air to see if the temperature had changed. "It still feels warm to me, but something still doesn't feel right. Stop for a second here, Takeru!"

He did so, and they all listened.

"Not yet. Force it a little more," a voice said. "Hold it right there. We'll try this again now."

It was faint, but Miyako could tell it was something that should be investigated. She, Takeru, and Iori paused to look over hills for anything suspicious, and the very bottom of a deep valley, they could see a dark aura swirling around. As the swirling became faster, so did the beeping from Miyako's digivice.

"Over there!" Miyako shouted as she ran towards it. Iori yelled after her and followed, and Takeru struggled to follow with the cart.

The abrupt shift in speed was enough to wake up the snoozing digimon. Well rested, Patamon and Armadimon were the first to throw the sheet off to see what was going. Hawkmon shook awake, but still groggy, struggled to look around. "What is going on here?" he asked in a surprised tone. Without needing to hear an answer, he too felt the swirling darkness, and shivered as he look in that direction and saw his partner sliding down the hill. "Mi-Miyako! Don't go that way!"

Armadimon pushed him aside as he jumped out of the cart to get to Iori's side. Rolling himself into a ball, it was easy to catch up, but he immediately caught a hold of the ground again as the dark aura surged outwards towards them.

Iori and Miyako were blown back a few steps as well, but still being near the top of the hill, Takeru's cart flipped to it's side, trapping two very startled digimon underneath it. The blonde boy rushed to try to push it back over, but the sight behind the aura caught his attention.

"Well, is it successful?" an assistant asked Shin.

The young man shook his head. "It's not exactly the effect we wanted. Forcing one of the specimens to digivolve doesn't seem to work very well."

"Isn't that…?" Miyako stared numbly, "Skullgreymon?"

"What is it?" Iori asked her for clarification, unsure what to make of the giant pile of bones. It moved stiffly, as if trying to get a hold of it's bearings.

"It's creeping evil, that's what it is," her eyebrows furrowed as she held tight to her digivice. "Hawkmon! Digi--" she stopped herself as she remembered how tired out her digimon was. Definitely not good timing.

Skullgreymon started moving more lucidly. He let out a loud roar, and raised his fist high the air.

"That's our cue to get out of here," Shin ordered as he and his assistants took cover in a well hidden tunnel they had put there before for such an occasion. Just as they were out of sight, Skullgreymon's fist hit the ground where they were previously standing. Seeing his attack was unsuccessful, his glance shifted to those who were further up the hill.

"This is bad," Miyako's mind rushed. "He's an ultimate digimon, so even if Hawkmon could digivolve, we'd be no match for him! And this time, there's no dark spiral we can focus on instead."

"Miyako! Come back this way!" Iori shouted. "We can't--"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, though, before the evil digimon shot a cannon like thing off his back towards the two of them. It plastered the ground between them, though, and sent the children flying in opposite directions.

Iori, being so light weight, would have gone sailing further if Armadimon wasn't there to catch and hold him down to the ground. After seeing his partner was keeping him safe, the boy looked in Miyako's direction, but couldn't see anything beyond the settling dirt. "Miyako? Miyako!"

Miyako hit the ground, but not hard enough to injure herself. Still, she couldn't tell how far she had flown, and the dust in her eyes was making it hard to see much of anything. Skullgreymon, on the other hand, could see her just fine. She stepped closer, and closer, and raised his fist to smash down on her.

Before he did so, though, a human hand grabbed Miyako's wrist and pulled her in another direction, just far enough out of the way that his fist missed her. She could she was being held tightly against someone, but at the moment, didn't care who.

Skullgreymon tried to attack again, but was stunned by a much smaller digimon flying straight towards his forehead, holding a sword-like weapon out in front of him. With one swift attack, Skullgreymon was hit in a critical spot, and quickly faded away.

"Do we just leave it there?" the assistants asked Shin from inside the tunnel. "Won't it get to the towns?"

"It won't last long," he said authoritatively. "We forced that digimon to materialize in our world, so that weakened it in the first place. Digivolving straight to that form probably used up most of it's energy."

"So it'll just fade away?"

"It's data will returned to it's world, and we'll just have to report another failure," he replied and continued down the tunnel. "Come on."

The last of the dust settled, as Takeru flipped the cart back over. Patamon and Hawkmon came crawling back out for air. "Where did it go?" Patamon asked, seeing as the valley looked empty again.

Armadimon struggled to comfort his shaken partner further down the hill. Iori wasn't in the mood to be comforted, because Miyako was no where in sight. "What happened to them? Where did they go? Is Miyako alright?" he asked to no one in particular.

Hawkmon made a similar observation, but Iori's guilt couldn't even touch his own. He had failed to protect Miyako, and she had now disappeared.

Little did they know she had wound up behind a different hill, mostly unharmed. Finding herself being held against a boy's chest was rather embarrassing, though. He seemed unphased as he stood her back upright. "Are you alright?" he asked in a serious tone, as the victorious digimon landed behind him.

Miyako's jaw dropped open slightly. It was Ken, with Stingmon standing behind him. He was dressed like a drifter, with longer hair than usual which was loosely tied back into a ponytail. His look of concern wouldn't leave his face as he waited for her answer.

"K-Ken," she bit her lip and felt a bit teary eyed. "I'm so happy to see you!" she yelled and instinctively tried to hug him in gratitude. A little startled, he stepped out of the way as she fell flat on her face.

"Um… are you alright, miss?" he asked again, a little more nervous this time.

"I was," she spit the dirt out of her mouth and reminded herself that her friends couldn't remember her in this reality. "But you guys really saved me back there! How can I thank you?"

Stingmon perked up. "Did you hear that, Ken? Someone wants to thank us this time!"

"She must already be familiar with digimon if she was being attacked by one," he observed as he helped her up. "Where did you come from?"

"My friends and I were on the trail over… over… over…" she looked around, and tried to spot Takeru and Iori. From her new standpoint, though, everything looked the same, and she couldn't even tell where she had fallen from.

"So you're lost? That's no good," Ken said. "You better hurry and get back to town. Where were you headed?"

"To the… next town?" she laughed at her own ignorance. Ken and Stingmon shared a simultaneous sweatbead. "Sorry, I'm not really familiar with this place the way it is now."

"We can't just leave her alone, Ken," Stingmon said to his partner, as if she couldn't hear him.

"I know that," he replied. "What is your name?"

"I'm Miyako," she said, though she didn't feel the need to do introductions.

"Nice to meet you, Miyako," he bowed slightly. "I'm Ken, and this is Stingmon."

She smiled widely. "Doesn't sound like you'd be anyone else." As happy as she was to meet back up with two more faces she knew, she suddenly remembered what Mimi had said about Iori's grandfather. From what she understood, Ken was his killer.

Surely, he couldn't have been. He was so timid and good hearted to help her right now, but didn't he put up a similar act when he was the Digimon Kaizer? With a deep breath, she put herself back on guard.


	7. Chapter 7

WAI! I found two more reviews waiting for me today. That put me in SUCH a good mood. As for the Ken/Kenshin comment, well... uh... would you believe that I've hardly ever seen Kenshin? Still, Ken looks great with the long ponytail. I should put up a few sketches I had for this...

* * *

"Boss?"

Mr. Takenouchi looked up from his work. "Yes, Jyou. What is it now?"

"Can I ask you a quick question?"

"You just did. Now go get back to your work."

"Boss!" Jyou whined.

"Just kidding," the older man chuckled warmly. "What did you need answered?"

"I was just wondering about Koushirou. How long will he be gone this time?" he wrung his hands, a little nervous about asking something so casual. Still, Koushirou was his only friend, so to speak. His loneliness drove him to ask.

"His work is very important, you know," Mr. Takenouchi gave him a stern look, but could sympathize with the boy. "Don't rush him."

Jyou tried to widdle his way backwards out the room with a little "Oh."

"You know, Jyou," the man stopped him. "Your brothers seem to be having some trouble with that girl, lately. How about you go help them out?"

Down a few halls, Jyou found Shuu interrogating Jun as usual, and Jun being more stubborn everyday. "Shin's not back yet?" he asked.

Shuu jumped. "Jyou! Since when have you sneaked around the halls so quietly?"

"Maybe he's training to be a ninja instead of studying to be a doctor," Jun suggested.

"You're getting just a little too familiar with the organization, Jun," Shuu sweated a bit. "And no, Shin's not back yet."

"Still not budging, huh, Jun?" Jyou knelt down by her. "How long do you think you'll keep this up?"

"I'll keep it up until I'm rescued, of course," she smiled confidently. "And of course, you'll be no match for the dashing young man who comes to rescue me. Right, Shuu?"

"We'll see about that," he adjusted his glasses in a cocky fashion. "I'm sure Lord Daisuke can't be too much trouble."

"I didn't mean _that _young man!" she yelled.

"Still, I rather like the idea. All this waiting is getting on my nerves," he scratched his chin. "Jyou, I'd like you to use your ninja training now to go send an official ransom note to the young feudal lord. I'll think of an offer he can't refuse."

"Ninja training?" Jyou gawked back at him. "I'm just quiet, that's all!"

"Good enough for me. You're really the only person we can spare," Shuu started deviously thinking of how to word the note. Jyou moaned at his fate as Jun struggled a bit within her self. Hopefully, hopefully that ransom note wouldn't get to Daisuke.

"Miyakoooo!"

"Miyakoooo! Where are you? Miyakooo!"

Hawkmon and the other boys called helplessly as they looked for Miyako, carefully looking around in the direction they thought she might have wound up in. "This is all my fault," Hawkmon hid his face in shame.

"It was out of your control," Takeru tried to cheer him up. "You're still so tired out, Hawkmon. You should try to get some rest."

"Do you think I can sleep while Miyako is missing?"

"If something happened to you, Takeru," Patamon stood up for him. "I wouldn't rest until you were okay, either."

"I guess that's just how digimon are," he smiled weakly. After all, the night of the yakuza raid, Patamon was the one who kept him hidden and safe. He shrugged it off, and turned back around. "Miyakooo!"

While they all were following in the right direction, Miyako was so turned around that she continued going further and further away from them while following Ken.

"So you don't know where you were headed," Wormmon asked as he trudged along next to her. He was secretly very pleased that someone was welcome to the sight of a digimon. "And you don't even have a clue what's in the area."

"That's right," she nodded.

"And you don't have any family here?"

"Not that I know of."

"And you were being attacked by a digimon, and you don't even know why?"

"Wrong time, wrong place, I guess?"

"Hmm," the digimon looked at her curiously. "You must have amnesia."

"Thanks for your diagnosis, Wormmon, but I don't have any mental problems," she folded her arms. "I'm just not from around here."

"Then where did you come from?" Ken whirled around to look at her, having been listening to the entire conversation. "You don't strike me as a foreigner."

"I'm not," she smiled. "See, I guess the best way to put it is that things got a little turned around in the digital world. I need to get back there to fix things up."

Ken and Wormmon's mouths dropped open as their eyes widened. "You've been to the digital world?"

"I guess that's the reaction I should expect by now, huh?" she shifted her glance away awkwardly. "But yes, I've been there plenty of times. And I need to hurry up and find my digimon again. We got separated when Skullgreymon attacked."

"Oh, so that's why she wasn't upset when she saw me," Wormmon concluded aloud. Ken ignored him as he looked up to the sky with a dazed expression.

"The digital world, huh?" he mused. "I've always wanted to run away to that place. A place where digimon can live in harmony."

"Most of the time, anyway," she added.

"Are there other people in the digital world?" he asked.

"Not usually. I only know a handful pf people who can go there. For the most part, it's just digimon who live there."

"Do they ever get mad at the people for barging in?" he queried.

"Not that I've noticed… but I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy if people started using it as a vacation spot or something."

"Hhm," Ken glazed over again as he tried to picture it. "It sounds like such a peaceful place, untainted by human interference."

Miyako's heart sank. "Yeah, it's definitely better when people don't try to mess with it." It was ironic to hear the boy who used to be the Digimon Kaizer say these things, but it all made her feel so guilty.

"Ken's worked hard to protect the peace around here," Wormmon tugged at the end of her kimono. "But the digital world has a very different kind of peace."

"I'll say," she nodded. "Still, that's awfully nice of you two to go around and help out random strangers!"

Wormmon beamed as Ken blushed and looked away. "It… It's nothing, really."

Miyako giggled to herself at his reaction. Now that was the Ken she knew.

Koushirou, meanwhile, had just left Mimi's company, and was slyly smirking to himself.

"Can you keep a secret?" Mimi had said to him a short time ago.

"Of course I can," he nodded back to her. "After all, it's not a secret if it's not kept."

"I know a couple of boys with digimon partners," she whispered. "I've seen everything they have to go through, just for being so lucky as to have them."

"Lucky? What makes them so lucky if having digimon partners puts them through so much?"

"I guess it'd be kind of like having a soul mate," she pondered. "Someone who will stick by you and try to take care of you through thick and thin. Still, that can't stop me from wishing they didn't have to had lost their families and such over them."

"I agree," Koushirou said, "What kinds of things have they been through? And what are their digimon like?"

"Just remember!" Mimi held a finger to her lips. "You have to keep this all a secret!"

Koushirou chuckled to himself back outside, recalling the conversation. "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi. Did you even think you were telling your secret to the one person you wouldn't want to find out? This should be worth my time to investigate, though… Takeru and Iori."

Iori sneezed out in the valleys.

"Any sign of her yet, Iori?" Takeru called from the trail.

"Nothing yet."

Oblivious to how much she was making them worry, Miyako continued along side Ken and Wormmon. Wearing a kimono always did put her in a good mood, even if it was a little hard to keep up with everyone around her.

"We're getting closer to a little village now, Miyako," Ken said to her. "Did you want to check it out? If it's safe, you can wait for your friends there."

She didn't like the idea of Ken just leaving so suddenly, but agreed to go take a look around.

"I'll stay here so we can avoid causing a fuss," Wormmon offered. "Come let me know if you decide to stay, though."

"Of course I'll come say good bye to you, Wormmon," she bent down and patted his head. "And I won't keep Ken from you too long."

The village was filthy, and crawling with thieves. Miyako could care less, however, because Ken was watchful at her side, keeping his hand ready at his sword.

"As a thank you, how about I buy you some lunch?" she offered.

"You don't have to do that--"

"Excuse me, Miss! Three dumplings, please!" she caught the attention of a food vendor. She then revealed Taichi's slate that was around her wrist. "And put it to the order of the feudal lord!"

"Miyako! Don't do tha--"

Before Ken could finish his sentence, everyone was swarming around and taking notice. It didn't take long for a few thieves to push their way to the front and grab her wrist tightly.

"Well, where did you get this, Missy?" one of them inspected it.

Miyako gulped and scolded herself for being so foolhardy as to show it off. "Let go of me!"

"It doesn't matter where it's been, it only matters where it's going!" another added. "Let's make this quick--"

"I agree, let's make this quick," Ken in a loud, clear voice. "Please step away from her."

"You think we'll listen to you , punk?" one if the thieves yelled back at him, as other two charged at him.

"I had asked nicely," Ken replied as he swiftly swung his blade at them. His strike was accurate enough to send the men's knives sailing out of their hands, and they were stunned, he struck away to slice off the sashes holding up their clothes. Embarrassed, they looked back at him blankly as he added, "Didn't you hear me say 'please'?"

The one holding on to Miyako's wrist was just as surprised, and gulped as he tried to figure out his next move. Obviously, Miyako was the faster thinker and used her free arm to elbow him in the stomach, yelling out a loud, Miyako-ish war cry.

Everyone in the restaurant backed away, unsure how to act around two such violent youth. The owner's voice quivered as she handed over the dumplings. "Please, just take these. Free of charge."

While walking out, Miyako casually mentioned to Ken, "You know, I don't think I want to wait here."

Ken nodded, a little dissatisfied with the whole display.

Wormmon's eyes watered as they returned to him, partly because he was happy they were back so soon, and partly because they had brought lunch. The three of them enjoyed their meal together and didn't notice how much time had passed by them, until they heard a voice in the distance. "Miyakoooo!"

"That's Hawkmon!" she said, and looked in the direction is came from. Out on top of a high hill, she could faintly make out the cart and the boys walking close to it. "It looks like we've been going in the opposite direction of them this whole time!"

"I'm glad you found them," Ken smiled politely. "You better get back to them now. Wormmon and I will just watch from here."

"You're just going to stay here, Ken?" Wormmon frowned. He was honestly quite tired of the loner lifestyle, but was willing to do whatever made his partner most comfortable.

"Thanks for your help!" she waved behind her as she headed up the hill. "See you around!"

"See us around, huh?" Ken smirked and muttered under his breath. "Wishful thinking."

Chipper as ever, Miyako ran up the hill, waving her arms and greeting her friends. In an expression of relief, Hawkmon swooped down and tackled her. "Miyako! You're alright!"

"Sorry I got lost," she laughed and patted his head. It probably would pain Hawkmon to know that someone else took his place and watched over her for a little while, so she thought it best to keep her mouth shut about Ken and Wormmon.

Iori came to her side as well. "You aren't hurt or anything?" he asked.

Seeing him, she remembered again what Mimi had told her before about Ken. She didn't feel very concerned though, because after talking with Ken, she was completely sure there was a mistake. "Yeah. I'm just fine. Should we get a move on, then?"

"You should get a move on, Jyou!" Shuu kicked him out the door. Jyou moaned at his new task, and trudged forward for Daisuke's castle.


	8. Chapter 8

-1

"Where do you think Miyako and Hawkmon are right now?" Hikari fingered Tailmon's tail as she pondered.

"Probably not very far," Taichi responded to his sister, without looking away from the paper he was scribbling on. "They only left a little over twenty-four hours ago."

"How far out of the city can someone go in that time?"

"She might not even be out of the city yet, depending on what route she took."

"Is the city really that big?"

"Yes, Hikari. It's very big."

"Hmm," she twirled the tail around. "What do you think they're doing?"

"Typical digimon partner things," Taichi replied flatly, not wanting to tell where how much fighting that included.

"Like what?"

"You should know, Hikari. The things you and Tailmon do or the things Daisuke and V-mon do."

Tailmon laughed. "But we don't do anything, Taichi! Are you saying Miyako's just going to play with Hawkmon's tail feathers all day?" Abruptly, Hikari became aware of what she was doing and stopped.

"That's not what I'm saying," her older brother finally turned around to look them in the eye when he answered a question. "All they're doing is looking for a computer. Don't worry about it so much."

"I'm not worried, Taichi. I'm only curious," said Hikari. "You're the one who seems worried."

"I'm not!" he snapped, and then took a deep breath as he turned back around. "I need to get out of this castle a little, that's all. I was just hoping to go with them."

"That makes three of us," Tailmon muttered under her breath.

Far out in the city, a small shack sat alone on a hill, hidden by a grove of trees. The masked man in heavy black clothes crept into the shack, ashamed by his defeat. There were two faces he'd need to avoid in there.

The first was not around, but the second, and one he feared more, looked him straight back in the face. "What's with the sheepish stance?" she asked him in a sharp tone. Even though he feared the woman behind this face more, he still swooned at the sound of her angry voice.

"Where's the boss?" he avoided her question.

"You failed your mission, didn't you?" she tapped her fingers restlessly. "It was this simple, and you messed it up!"

"Now, now, sweetie," he coaxed her and tried to stroke her silvery hair. "We can always try again lat--"

"What do you mean by 'we'? As soon as you make your report to the boss, I'm going next!"

Out in the sunshine, Miyako stretched her arms as she yawned. After joining back up with Takeru and the others, she had been hitching a bumpy ride on the back of the cart. She had finally coaxed Hawkmon to sleep on her lap, but didn't have much to hold her attention.

However, Skullgreymon's appearance still had her concerned. It was understandable that small digimon like Patamon were able to slip into the real world through rifts in the digital world, but how could something that big fit through?

Even if a smaller digimon had gotten through beforehand, it wasn't likely that it would have digivolved to such a high form here. Being in the real world naturally made them a little weaker, and Skullgreymon didn't seem to have a partner nearby to give him strength.

However, the first time she had seen Skullgreymon was when Greymon was forced to digivolve into that form. Was it possible that he only appeared by means of human interference?

"Takeru!" she called to her driver. "Is it too late to turn around?"

"Why? We're making good time," he replied.

"I think we should go investigate the area where we were attacked," she explained. "The yakuza we're looking for are notorious for dealing with digimon right? If they had something to do with that attack, they might have left a clue behind that we can use to find them."

"That makes sense," Iori nodded from alongside the cart. "I agree that we should go take a better look around there. Besides, we don't have any other particular place in mind to start looking."

"Well, okay," he shifted his weight to turn the cart around. "I wish we would have thought of that before we got so far along, though."

Jyou was also making reasonable time as he crawled his way out of another yakuza tunnel. The sun felt especially hot on his face, because he rarely saw it between all his studies and accounting. He shaded his map as he looked it over. "Let's see… right now, I should be near the West borders of the city. If the feudal Lord's castle is in the South East portion, I should take… which road?"

He held it closer to his face to make out the small handwriting. It figures that a doctor wrote it, because the handwriting with illegible. "Typical Shuu!" he whined. "Let's see… does that say "bun" or "puu"? And… and I don't even know what that kanji is supposed to mean!"

The boy yelled his frustrations about the map and the sun in his eyes, as someone else watched him from a hilltop. The onlooker smirked as his fair hair shaded his eyes. "So, this guy came out of a suspicious tunnel, and now he's lost, huh? I thought the yakuza had more competent staff than that."

"Won't anybody just tell me which way to go!" Jyou ruffled his hair as he yelled.

"Well," the fair-haired stranger appeared at his side, and had slipt the map out of Jyou's hands without him noticing it. "The place that's circled on the map is the feudal lord's castle. It's very easy to get there, if you're at all familiar with the city."

"Oh, I'm not," he blushed, a little surprised that anyone was around and listening to him throw a fit. "Would you mind pointing me in the right direction?"

"And I wonder why you're not," the stranger held his chin and made a Sherlock Holmes face. "Your skin is obviously very pale, so you must not get out much."

"Well, yeah… I kind of don't."

"So you spend all your time crawling around in secret tunnels?" he pointed to the well-covered exit Jyou had just used.

"No, actually, I got lost down there, too. I- I mean, what tunnel? I don't see any tunnel."

"So what business does a tunnel-going rat have with the feudal lord?" he asked again. His tone seemed more like he was mocking Jyou than being curious.

"I'm just a tourist!"

"And a delivery boy?" he pulled out the envelope Jyou was holding behind the map. "Why couldn't this be sent the old fashioned way, by mail carriers who actually know where they're going?"

"It's a top secret ransom note, that's why!" he tried to grab for it, but the stranger held it away. "I mean, no! It's a birthday card from the feudal lord's sister! It has to be hand delivered!"

"As I understand, wasn't his sister recently kidnapped?" the fair-haired boy continued, obviously walking all over Jyou. "Even if it's a birthday card, that still doesn't explain it can't be sent by an experienced go-pher, unlike yourself."

"The usual one is busy."

"Busy?"

"You know, more digimon and people from the digital world showing up. Some old, same old…"

"No, I didn't know that," the stranger's tone became more serious. "Tell me more."

"From what I understand, it's a girl and a bird-like digimon. But that's all I-- heeey, why am I telling you all of this, anyway? Give me back my things, I have a mission to get on with."

"From what _I _understand," the stranger continued, with his eyes covered by his hair. "Your having come out of a secret underground tunnel and carrying this official ransom note, _and _having inside knowledge on new happenings with the digimon makes you, mostly likely, a part of the Yamaki yakuza clan."

Jyou swallowed hard. So much for keeping a cover.

"And you're just what I've been looking for!" he looked back up with a wide, predatory smile and a fire in his deep blue eyes. Jyou yelped and immediately tried to run away, but the stranger had already grabbed a fist full of his shirt. "I've got a feeling we'll be working together for a little while. What's your name?"

He whimpered, and mentally apologized to everyone in his head. Sorry, Mr. Takenouchi. Sorry, Shuu & Shin. Sorry, Koushirou. "Jyou."

"Nice to meet you, Jyou. I'm Yamato."

Koushirou, meanwhile, had returned to the Yamaki base to do a little research. There, he was met by an older boy, who bowed deeply as he greeted him.

"I'm afraid I have to report another failure," Shin said.

"How long did the digivolution last this time?" Koushirou asked authoritatively.

"A few minutes shorter than last time," he answered, a little wisfully. "All of our evidence thus far hasn't proved as fruitful as… well…"

"Using love an attention rather than force?" he finished. "That's why we're commencing so much research into digimon-human partnerships. I need to find a little more information on a couple of them, now."

"Anything new to report on the girl and the bird-type digimon yet?"

"Not yet," said Koushirou as he peered through the records. "That's why I'm looking for back doors, now."

"Of course. Don't let me be a burden, then," Shin let himself out.

Elsewhere, a guard entered Daisuke's court and humbled himself. "Sir, there are a couple of strange characters asking to see you."

"Strange characters?" he asked. "How strange?"

"Blonde foreigners, it seems," he said. "Shall I send them awa--'

"That might be Wallace!" V-mon grew a big smile.

"Yeah! I told him to come visit us if he was ever in Japan again!" Daisuke ran past the guard with his digimon. Sure enough, at the front gate stood Wallace, accompanied by his captain, Micheal.

"Daisuke! It's been a while!" Wallace extended his hand to shake that of his old's friends. Little he expect Daisuke to throw him a friendly punch, instead.

"A while? It's been a few years!" V-mon nodded. "Are you still going on big fishing trips with your family and getting lost on foreign beaches?"

"Ha, no… but I'm glad I did get lost here before and meet you guys. I'm working with an international trade foundation now," Wallace presented himself formally. "This time we're setting to bridge the gap between Japanese and oriental trade."

"Well, sorry, buddy," Daisuke sweated. "I didn't set up that trade block. I can't help you much there."

"I know, don't worry about it," he continued, happy to see an old friend. "Allow me to introduce you to Captain Micheal, who I've been working with. This is his first time in Japan."

Micheal, unable to understand any of the conversation, was wide-eyed and taking in every detail about the architecture of the front gate.

"And allow _me _to introduce you guys to a big, Japanese-styled lunch," Daisuke lead them inside. A friendly visit was exactly what he needed lately.

Taichi watched him from the outside walkway of the castle, and rolled his eyes. "I wish he wouldn't go invite anyone and everyone inside. At least Hikari might find this interesting, since she's been a little bored lately."

He walked through the halls to call her to come join their lunch. "Hikari! Hikaaaariii! Tailmon?"

Hearing no answer, he carefully peered around into her room. Her usual, heavy kimono was draped on it's stand, and all of her things were put away. In the middle of the room was a carefully folded piece of paper.

Taichi's heart jumped into his throat as he lunged for it, and read the words inside.

"Dear Oniichan, Daisuke, and V-mon,

I'm leaving to go join Miyako and Hawkmon. Don't worry, Tailmon will take care of me. We'll come back as soon as she's done with her mission. Love, Hikari."

Daisuke's quaint reunion with Wallace was interrupted as Taichi ran in, and showed him the letter. Daisuke wasn't sure exactly how to react, and stared a little dumbfounded at Taichi, who was steaming with anger.

"I have to go find her, Daisuke," he said. "She's going to get hurt out there!"


	9. Chapter 9

-1

"Boss," a woman knocked. "I'm coming in."

A man turned around to see her. "What's the news?"

"Another failure."

The man smacked his palm to his forehead. "That incompetent fool."

"That's why you should have sent me in the first place, you oaf!" the woman lectured. "You're wasting time by sending him."

"And time is exactly what we don't have," he swallowed hard. "Fine, Arukenimon. You can go, but be swift."

There was no stopping Taichi as he gathered his things to leave the castle, his mind bustling about, worried about Hikari. Daisuke was pained to watch him, but put more faith in Hikari to be safe. A part of him was glad that Hikari was finally being let out of her shell. As much as it would hurt her to find out about the outside world of digimon, it would hurt her more to be in the dark about it.

As soon as Taichi took his leave, Daisuke's flustered guests came to his side. "You're not going, too?" Wallace asked. "After all, she _is _your fiancé. Aren't you worried?"

"Of course I'm worried! Bad things happen to digimon and their partners out there, and they aren't prepared at all for it."

"No," the blue-eyed foreigner smiled. "I meant, aren't you worried about some other guy sweeping her off her feet?"

Daisuke was ready to shout "no" at him, but paused, held his breath, and turned away with an attitude. "I don't have to answer that."

Wallace laughed.

"I wish I weren't in such a high position sometimes," the young lord mused. "If it weren't for my responsibilities here, I would have gone after her in a heartbeat. I wish I could go have big adventures like you, Wallace."

"It's not all fun and games," he replied. "But hey, you already sent V-mon to go look for them, right?"

He nodded. "V-mon's just as worried."

"If it'll calm your nerves anymore," Wallace continued. "Captain Micheal and I could go look for her, too."

"Really? You'd take on a mission?" Daisuke raised his eyebrows.

"Of course," he made a quick Western-style salute. "I pledge allegiance to the feudal lord!"

Micheal, observing his actions, did the same, but wasn't entirely sure what his gesture was making him agree to. "I didn't know the Japanese saluted each other."

Daisuke wasn't sure what the gesture meant, but followed the suit. "Okay, got it!"

Taichi wasn't sure where to start searching for Hikari, considering she could have gone in any sort of direction. Subconsciously, his feet carried him to his favorite spot in the whole city- the entrance of the flower arranging school.

In that little sheltered doorway, he and Sora had shared many long and tender conversations. In fact, their first kiss was at that very spot he was standing.

His nerves settled as he took a deep breath and remembered that moment. That took place when he was still so sure that Sora loved him. After she had been visited by Yamato, however, everything had changed.

"Taichi?"

His eyes shot open as he spun around to look Sora face to face. She blinked in surprise to meet him outside again, rather than have him storming in.

"Sora," he smiled in momentary relief. "I'm glad."

"Really," her glance wandered down to the ground as she causally kicked at it with her foot. "Why are you here?"

At first he felt a little defensive. Did he have to have a reason for visiting his fiance? The question still jogged his memory back to where it was a few minutes before hand. "It's Hikari. She just took off, and I have to find her. Have you seen her here?"

Sora shook her head. "You better get going and find her."

"You act as if you're trying to get rid of me," his face became stern. "What is wrong with you lately, Sora?"

"I've actually been thinking for a long time now," she looked at him eye to eye. "That I can't marry you."

Immediately, his face grew cold. "You've already said that, and I've already asked you to wait until--"

"I was already thinking that before he came," she raised her voice a little. "There's things you don't even know about me, Taichi!"

"Why are you doing this to me, Sora?"

"Because I don't want you to get hurt," she hushed her voice again. "I'm sorry, Taichi. But this is the last time I'll say it… I can't marry you."

Taichi's eyes stung, but he refused to show her any tears. "Fine. Be that way. I have to go find Hikari." Turning away and stomping off was enough to break the hold he had on his tears. He didn't care if anyone else saw… just not Sora.

Sora bit her lip and watched him for a few moments, before heading back inside.

Hikari, elsewhere, was wearing a more casual, light-weight kimono, and trudged along with Tailmon beside her. The two of them were enthralled in all the unusual sights and sounds, and finally started to notice how people were backing away from them.

"Why won't anyone stay around us?" Hikari pondered aloud.

"I don't think it's you, Hikari," Tailmon peered at the onlookers. "I think it's me."

"Haven't they ever seen a digimon before?" she grew a little defensive. "Doesn't V-mon get treated with respect?"

"That's what I heard," the small, white digimon nodded. "Maybe they just don't know who we are."

"We're partners, that's what we are," Hikari knelt down by her. "Shouldn't that be obvious?"

"You would think so," Tailmon's large eyes met hers. "But why are they all acting like this?"

"Where are all the other digimon?" Hikari's hands shook as she searched the crowd. "Where are all the other partners?"

"Don't be scared, Hikari," she took her hand. "I'm here with you."

A few other partners, meanwhile, where unaware of how closely they were being watched.

"Where were we attacked again?" Armadimon asked. "All these hills look the same."

"Look for the singed one!" Takeru replied to him.

"Takeru and Patamon," their watcher scratched his chin. "And Iori and Armadimon."

"In this sun, aren't all the hills a little singed?" Miyako whined.

"Oh, shush. You're the one getting a free ride. Would you like to push for a while?"

"No, I'm good, thanks!"

Koushirou smiled slyly to himself. "Just as I hoped. They're with those new characters. Still, it wouldn't work very well for me to intrude on them all together."

Hawkmon stretched his wings out with satisfaction. That nap really hit the spot. As he relaxed, though, something didn't feel quite… steady. Was it the bumping of the cart? No, something else was vibrating… more and more rapidly.

He peered around carefully… it felt like something very swift was moving from beneath them. Finally, his eyes caught one of the silent figures slinking near the path. They were already under some kind of ninja attack.

One of the quick figures lunged towards Miyako, but because he had spied them, Hawkmon grabbed onto her tightly. He wasn't going to loose her this time, too. In a quick motion, they were lifted off the cart and carried away before either one could scream.

Iori and Armadimon, who were walking behind the cart, quickly noticed the disappearance, but couldn't say anything before they, too, were swept away.

Takeru's eyebrows furrowed as he felt the cart get lighter. Patamon squealed in shock. "Takeru! Takeru! They all disappeared! Gone!"

"What in the world!" he gaped at their absence

Koushirou watched Takeru's befuddled reaction with satisfaction. "Never leave home without your handy band of ninjas."

In a fit of confusion, Takeru and Patamon had darted straight back towards the town. Shortly after they had disappeared, two other figures showed up, and looked around.

"Koushirou's been here," Jyou adjusted his glasses.

"Koushirou?" Yamato raised an eyebrow, wondering who the heck that was. "How can you tell?"

"Ninja tracks," he pointed at the light footsteps embedded in the dirt path. "He's really the only one who uses them."

"They have ninjas?" the fair-haired boy's mouth dropped. "I thought having tunnels out here in the countryside was sneaky enough."

"They really only get hired for certain jobs," Jyou replied. "It's not all that often."

"You're proving to be far more useful than I thought you'd be, Jyou," he sent him a wide smile, and Jyou gulped at how much more information he had just revealed about the Yamaki. They looked around a little more, and a small object in the dust caught Yamato's attention.

Carefully, he picked up the small slate with the crest of courage engraved in it, and grew an evil little- no, big and evil- smirk. He knew very well what that was used for.

"What's that you got there?" Jyou looked over curiously.

"Oh, Taichi, you poor fool. Letting this out of your sight for people like me to find?" he laughed under his breath and pocketed it. "It's nothing, Jyou. Let's keep going."

The ninjas had already covered quite a bit of ground before Hawkmon was able to react. Just barely able to move one wing while keeping the other tightly around Miyako, he pulled his head feather off to swipe at the enemy.

The ninja stopped abruptly and dropped them both and put a hand to his wound in surprise. Hawkmon positioned himself carefully between him and Miyako, who was blinking and trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. Wasn't she just on a cart?

In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded. Hawkmon couldn't tell whether it was a ninja duplication technique, or if the attacker had friends. There was no way he would be able to take down them all in his current state. "Quick, Miyako! Make me digivolve to Shurimon!"

"Say.. What?" her eyes were still swirling.

Hawkmon's beak dropped open. This is a bad time for blood not to be rushing to her head right away.

"Not very competent there, huh?" a feminine voice said, as a silver-haired figure appeared in front of Hawkmon. "Reminds me of someone else I know."

"What?" Hawkmon jumped back in surprise.

"I'll handle this, Birdie," she said and readied herself to attack.

Elsewhere, Iori and Armadimon weren't having quite as much trouble with the ninja, once they were able to figure out what was going on. Armadimon was coiling himself up into a heavy ball to knock them over like bowling pins, and Iori was fending of a few more with his wooden stick.

One of the ninja finally brought out a sharp metal weapon, however, and with one blow, made his stick splinter into small pieces. With nothing else to defend himself, Iori backed away with uncertainty.

"Leave him alone!" a boy's voice ordered. Obediently, the ninja scattered. Iori and Armadimon looked around carefully for their savior, and finally spotted a boy just a little shorter than Takeru.

"Are you alright?" he smiled kindly.

They gulped and nodded. "Thanks for your help."

"It looked like you were in a tight situation," the red-headed boy observed. "If you had a proper weapon, though, you probably would have been able to fend for yourself."

"Perhaps," Iori eyed the small, jagged piece of wood he was still holding onto.

"That won't do you _any_ good," the red headed boy continued. "Especially if you intend to defeat Ken."

Armadimon and Iori's spines tingled simultaneously. How could this boy know about Ken, and much less that they had a history with him?

"I was there that night," the boy's expression turned more serious. "I witnessed how Ken brutally murdered your grandfather. It was merciless."

The younger boy bit his lip tightly as he remembered that night. Armadimon pawed at his leg, as a silent show of support.

"You're the only one who would be able to avenge him now, Iori," the boy continued feigning sincerity. Koushirou had been able to dig up quite a bit of information on Iori, and was able to lie very well with it. It wasn't all lies, though. He _had _witnessed his grandfather's death.

Iori's breathing was heavy as he glanced listlessly at the ground. "I don't have any way to…"

"Ssh, Iori, it's alright," Armadimon tried to comfort him, though his constant pawing was closer to making him fall over.

"It _is _alright," Koushirou assured him and stepped forward. "Ken is near by. So I want you to have this."

He extended his hands and pulled a cloth off a pristine, new katana, sized perfectly for Iori's small hands. His eyes grew wide as he looked it over in disbelief. "You're letting me borrow this to kill Ken?"

"It's yours," he corrected him. "And yes. Use it to avenge your grandfather."

Back where the other ninjas had previously surrounded Hawkmon and Miyako, they merely looked on in surprise as the ninjas groaned in pain on the ground.

The strange woman was holding one of them up by the collar, and smiled a sinister smile. "Answer my question. Who hired you?"

"Kou… kou..!" he managed to say before passing out. The woman hmphed in understanding.

"This is already worse than I thought," she dropped him flatly. "Those yakuza have really gained on you. Did you even notice?"

"Maybe… once?" Miyako shrugged, remembering Skullgreymon's attack. "Say.. Who are you, any how…?"

"Hold on, Miyako," Hawkmon defensively stood in front of her. "She seems like…"

"You two should come with me," the silver-haired woman turned around to face them and they both gasped. "My boss has been waiting to meet you."

"A-A-A-A-A-Arukenimon!" they both yelled and backed away. "What are you doing here?"

"Perhaps if you just come with me, you'll find out why," she rolled her eyes, not very concerned that they already knew who she was. "We don't have much time. Hurry it up."

"Why should we follow you? We can't trust you!" Miyako yelled.

Arukenimon spun back around to face them, her patience wearing thin. "Do you want to make things right or not?"


	10. Chapter 10

Just a little something of note: Yes, they are their regular 02 ages. Don't concern yourself with things like "he's too young for that!"... because it's fiction! Kids can make boring adult roles waaay more interesting!

* * *

Miyako trudged along in her kimono, not very conscious that she was singing to herself. "_Yes, I'm a panicking Japanese lady, is there something wrong with that? Won't someone hold this panicking Japanese lady--"_

"Would you shut up?" Arukenimon snapped and spun around on her heels.

"Jeez, it's not like I was being obnoxious. But if you're so upset, I guess I shouldn't be following you," she turned her nose in the air. Arukenimon seemed very insistent that they follow her, but also didn't seem to recognize them.

Berialvamdemon had destroyed her in the dream world, so there was the chance she was reborn and living a different lifestyle in this reality, but it was just as likely- if not more so- that she was still a villian. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, they followed cautiously.

"Say, who is this 'boss' of yours that we're going to meet, anyway?" Hawkmon queried. "Does he have anything to do with the Yamaki yakuza?"

"Oikawa is not affiliated with those guys, if that's what your getting at. Far from it, in fact," she responded in a firm tone. "But you could say this has something to do with them."

Hikari, elsewhere back in the city, clung tightly to Tailmon, as a few people finally approached them, breaking the tense silence.

"They're everywhere these days!" a brash man complained to their faces, while meaning for his accomplices to hear him. "What is our world coming to?"

"I was always on edge about XV-mon… but he doesn't seem to be protecting us like he said! Those vicious digimon are popping up all the time!"

"Digimon aren't vicious!" Hikari's shoulders shook in anger. "Tailmon wouldn't hurt anyone!"

"It's true, little missy," one folded his arms. "Just this morning outside of town, a huge one appeared and started wreaking havoc in the hills. If anyone was out there with the dang thing, they would have gotten killed!"

"A digimon? In the hills?" the girl said softly. "Tailmon, we should go there--"

"You're not going anywhere, missy!" one shouted and grabbed her arm tightly, forcing her to drop Tailmon is surprise. "We're going to get rid of this one before it starts attacking us again!"

"Attacking?" her jaw dropped. "Tailmon wouldn't do that--"

"If it's so docile, this should be easy, then," one kicked the startled digimon across the road.

"Tailmon!" Hikari screamed and struggled. "Let go of me! Tailmon! Tailmon!"

Tailmon rubbed her head from the other side of the street and brushed a little dust off her eyes, just in time to see one of the men raise his fist at her partner, while saying something about her mind being poisoned by the digimon. Tailmon gasped. "Hikari!"

In the quiet country side, Yamato and Jyou continued along the path, in no particular hurry. Jyou had accepted his fate, that there was no way he was going to be able to deliver the ransom note to Daisuke's castle with this drifter breathing down his neck. Despite how much information he had already handed over, he still was loyal to the yakuza, and was leading them in circles. Yamato didn't know any better, though, having never been able to find the yakuza on his own.

"So what's a guy like you doing in the Yamaki, anyway?" he asked Jyou casually.

"I was raised into it… my father is already their head doctor, and my older brothers already finished their medical training… and do other various jobs."

"Various jobs?"

"Kidnapping, interrogation, experimentation."

"Like hit men?"

"No, that's what the ninjas are for. So," Jyou shifted the conversation a different way, "What's a guy like _you _doing hunting the Yamaki?"

"Typical revenge," he smiled, but didn't completely cover up his anger. "Care to hear my sob story in a nutshell?"

"It doesn't sound like I have much choice," he shrugged.

"A long time ago, my family lived in a big house, and we were generally good members of society. I was happy… and then my little brother discovered that he had a digimon partner."

Jyou gulped. This couldn't end well if digimon were involved.

"At first, I was a little jealous. My parents gave him so much special attention, and he and his digimon were so happy to have each other's company. I felt like I should have had a digimon partner, too, or instead… and in a way, I was also jealous of his digimon. I wasn't my brother's only playmate anymore," he chuckled softly. "But I got over it, and eventually got attached to the little guy myself. We all kept it a secret, but apparently, not very well."

Yamato grew very silent, and Jyou predicted what would happen next. There was rarely a digimon that the Yamaki didn't find out about.

"They attacked one night, ripping down doors and setting fire to the whole house. My dad tried to fend them off while my mom hid us in a closet and ran off to go help him. I should have stayed there with them, but instead ran after Mom, trying to stop her… I got there just as they slaughtered her. Dad was already long gone. I just barely ducked around a few corners to keep myself hidden… I knew I should have gone back with Takeru, but was just too frozen in fear. By the time I finally did go back to that closet, the door was broken, and it was empty."

Jyou stayed silent, waiting for him to say anymore. The silence was too bitter, though, so he asked what happened next.

"I was all alone. I was mad at myself for being such a coward, so I swore that I would avenge their deaths. And since then, I've been on my own, finding all the information on them I can."

"How do you expect to get revenge?" the other boy laughed nervously. "I can see where you're coming from, but… it's a pretty powerful organization for one person to shake."

"I'm not the only one who has a bone to pick with them, that's for sure," Yamato smiled casually. "And it's not like I want to kill you all off. Just as long as I spoil whatever it is they're trying to accomplish, I'll be satisfied."

"You weren't planning to kill them all off? I'll be honest, that's what I expected when you said you wanted revenge," he observed thoughtfully.

"Should I change my mind and be more predictable, then?" he held his sword jokingly to Jyou's neck. "I can start right here."

"Ah! No! Koushirou, help me!" he squealed and scrambled back a few feet. Yamato laughed as he struggled to catch his breath.

"You can't take a joke, can you? I'm smart enough not to get rid of something useful to me," he sheathed his sword again. "By the way, this Koushirou guy you keep mentioning… what does he do? Is he the leader?"

"Oh, no, not at all," he shook his head. "Well, maybe just a little bit. He's kind of the bosses' favorite, so he's got a lot of people working under him."

"Is he a hit man?"

"Well… I wouldn't say that. He can hold his own well enough, but he doesn't really do much of the dirty work himself. He's more of an information person."

"A spy, then?" Yamato raised an eyebrow, a little irked with how much Jyou beat around the bush.

"A genius of a spy," Jyou confirmed. "The kid's brilliant."

"A young genius," he scratched his chin. "He must be seriously messed up if he'll put his talents to work for the Yamaki instead of doing something good with it."

"I wouldn't say that it was his choice," Jyou's tone grew a little sad. "I was raised into the Yamaki, yes… but I was raised by my own family. Koushirou, on the other hand…"

"Let me guess- his parents were killed because they were going against them?"

"Not even that. They just got caught in the crossfire when he was just an infant. Our boss took pity on him, and took him under his wing."

"Only to breed him into the person he is now, huh?" the fair haired boy growled. "What a scum bag, making him think he was his father."

"You sure jump to conclusions a lot, Yamato," Jyou rolled his eyes. "It's not like that. Koushirou voluntarily took on his responsibilities, and didn't even spend much time around the boss while he was growing up. Everyone collectively took care of him, from the lower ranked scientists to the bosses' daughter. It would be hard to pinpoint anyone as being his real family."

"What an unconventional childhood," Yamato sighed. "If he wasn't willingly helping them, I would feel sorry for him."

"He's just curious about digimon," Jyou defended.

"Curious enough to put them through hell in this world," he looked away, not bothering to hide his angry tone of voice. Jyou opened his mouth to contradict him, but couldn't. Shutting his mouth tightly, he continued following, and neither of them spoke for some time.

"It's awfully nice of us to go help find the feudal lord's fiance," Micheal said to his translator as they prowled the streets, completely ignoring the strange looks they were getting for being foreigners. "But there's one very important detail we're missing."

"What might that be, Captain?"

"Do we even know what she looks like?"

Wallace paused, and rolled his words around in his mouth a bit before deciding which ones to use. "I remember that she was cute."

"The waitress we had the other day was cute," Micheal smiled as if he came to a brilliant conclusion. "Maybe that was her in disguise!"

"I would have recognized her if it was!" Wallace snapped back.

"I have one other concern," the captain held his chin and grew a more serious, dashing expression. "If she's in trouble, what can we do to save her?"

"I-I hadn't thought of that," the younger foreigner replied. "We don't exactly know how to use long swords like the other people here."

"But we know how to do things the western way," Micheal grew his idea-struck face again.

"FIREPOWER!" they both yelled together with giant smiles.

"Back to the boat!"

"Yes… what's left of it!"

They quickly ran through the streets, and completely didn't notice the commotion they passed. Hikari had flinched and screamed a bit as a large man raised his fist to hit her, but it was hit away by Tailmon. As Hikari's partner, her instinct was to protect Hikari, even if it meant harming a human.

The man yelled in pain and he held his bleeding fingers. Tailmon had only brushed his fist away with her strike, but her sharp claws could still do quite a bit of damage.

The one holding Hikari threw her to the ground as he rushed to his friend's side. "What did that vermin do to you?"

"Tailmon?" Hikari's eyes wavered as she saw the blood drip off the man's hand.

"See? Digimon will attack people all the time!" one yelled.

"Do men like you attack innocent girls all the time!" Tailmon shouted back at them. "How can you even call yourself men? Call yourselves human? I was protecting Hikari!"

To knock her off the soap box, one of them kicked her again. This time she didn't fly as far, being just a little more prepared for it. Before her worried partner could reach her side, the man was already stomping on her. It didn't take long for her to roll out of the way though, and spring up at his face, careful to paw him instead of using her claws.

The others were at his side, and yanked on her tail to get her off. As Tailmon yelped, Hikari grabbed the man's arm and pulled, begging him to let her go. Without much effort, he elbowed her to the ground. With a flick of the wrist, he threw Tailmon on top of her.

Knowing they didn't have much time to lay around, Tailmon took her partner's hand forcefully and led them away, scampering as fast as their feet would take them. The angry men were catching up fast, and they could only find a narrow alley way to protect themselves.

Hikari panted heavily as they hid in the shadows. "What's wrong with them? What's wrong with everyone? Aren't digimon our friends?" she whispered in quick breaths.

"I think we may have opened Pandoramon's box," Tailmon watched the entrance of the alley carefully. The two of them held each other a little tighter as the shadowy figures started coming closer. They shook as they watched their impending doom about to enter the alleyway…

…until a speeding cart knocked them all over.

The two of them weren't sure what to make of it as they heard the crash, and a frantic young boy's voice start apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry about this, sirs! I was going downhill and couldn't stop fast enough! I didn't even see you in my way! Very, very sorry…"

The tail end of the cart faced the alley, and a small and very dizzy digimon poked his head out enough to notice them. "Oh… Takeru, we've got company!"

The blonde boy heard his little voice, and thought it best to send the flattened men on their way. "Now, um, if you'll excuse me, sirs, it looked like you were in a hurry. Don't let me keep you here while I clean this up."

The men grumbled and continued off in a different direction, and Takeru poked his head around to peer into the alley.

Hikari and Tailmon were stilled crouched up in the shadows, a little terrified. "It's alright now," he said to them calmly, secretly rejoicing to find yet another digimon and partner.

"Takeru chased those guys away, so it's safe now," Patamon crawled under Takeru's legs to enter the alleyway. "Are you two okay?"

"Another digimon!" Hikari and Tailmon shouted together, and crawled over to examine the little Patamon, pulling his ears up and poking him lightly, much to his displeasure.

"Um, nice to meet you, too," Takeru sweated a little, not sure whether to dive in to rescue Patamon or just to leave them be. "Have you two run into that much?"

"No!" Hikari shouted, as if a great injustice had been done. "Why in the world were they so mad at us for being partners? Why would they attack us just for that!"

"Oh, man," the boy slapped his forehead. "Don't tell me it's another girl from the digital world!"

"You must know Miyako!" she smiled widely, having been reminded of why she left the castle in the first place. "Can you tell me which way she went? Tailmon and I were going to go help her!"

"Actually, I was wondering that myself," he sweated, also reminded of why he came running back into town.

"You're even pudgier than me!" Tailmon observed as she continued poking Patamon. "Do you have it easy or what?"

"Easy?" Patamon yelled back at her defensively. "What rock have _you _been living under? I have to hide for my life, and don't even get to eat every day! I'm wasting away in that cart and can't do anything to take care of Takeru!" He gulped and looked away, switching to a sadder tone. "I cause more trouble for him by being his partner than I get him out of."

Hikari and Tailmon stayed very silent for a moment, before speaking up. "We've been living under a very big rock, apparently."

* * *

Okay Readers, the next chapter is very, very important. You get to find out what the hell Miyako did! This is your last chance to make a guess, bwahaha. 


	11. Chapter 11

Yes, indeed, the song Miyako was singing in the last chapter was "Yamato Nadeshiko PANIC" (a "yamato nadeshiko", by the way, is the ideal, refined Japanese Lady of old times. "Yamato" means refers to ancient Japan, and a nadeshiko is a kind of flower).

As you might be able to tell from the title, it was something that promted me to start writing this, as well as Hawkmon's song, "Ai no Kishi" (he's such a little samurai at heart! I love his lingo in the Japanese version. Waga na wa Hawkmon!). The episode when Shurimon and Ninjamon fight, and the episode when Miyako visits Kyoto, were also big factors. And finally, "Miyako" was the ancient term for "capitol city", but I don't know what kanji she uses in her name (if any)- it's probably different.

* * *

"Keeennn," Wormmon whined as he trudged along Ken's side. Though the boy naturally had a faster pace, he walked a little slower than comfortable so his digimon could keep up. "Why are we going this way?" 

"We have no destination, Wormmon," he replied flatly. "We simply avoid the people who don't like us, and help those who are indifferent."

"You say that as if no one likes us," the green digimon half-scolded. "Yamato took a lot of time to train you so long ago, so we must have at least been on his good side. And Miyako--"

"Miyako is a special case," he interrupted. "She's from the digital world, not here. Naturally, she'll have a different opinion."

"Still," Wormmon trailed off, a little unsatisfied with those words. "You must be interested in her situation a bit for us to be going in the general direction she left."

Ken didn't reply, knowing he couldn't lie to his partner. The latter laughed, knowing this all too well.

"As for the people who really don't like us all that much, Ken," he continued, with a more worried voice. "It's okay. You know what you did and didn't do. It's their silly problem for thinking otherwise."

Ken smiled a bit. "I'd like to think that. Still, I can't shake this awful about that today… as if something is going to comeback and haunt me."

Miyako and Hawkmon, meanwhile, were getting a taste of their own past as they followed their old enemy. Arukenimon had lead them out of the grassy hills to an area covered with trees. Hidden amongst them was a small hut, hardly protected by even it's own door.

The large, bandaged man in dark clothes lifted the straw hanging door out of the way as they arrived. "Arukenimon! My love! I knew you could do it!"

"All I did was retrieve them, you numbskull," she batted him out of the way and made her way in. "Boss, the mission was a success."

Miyako and Hawkmon waited outside for a moment, and the man came to greet them. "I think we got off the wrong foot yesterday," he laughed and shook their hands wildly. "I'm--"

"--Mummymon," they both filled in for him.

"Oh? Has Arukenimon been talking about me? Ohhh, Arukenimon! I'm so happy!"

The woman flatly ignored him as she poked her head back out. "Hey, you two. Come in and talk to the boss already."

They walked in cautiously, wondering what sort of state they might find Oikawa in. Big, domineering, and evil like when they first met him, or peaceful like when he passed away?

On the floor of the little room, a large man's frame laid covered by a thick blanket, and unkempt hair draped over his pillow. He struggled to turn his head towards the door way, but smiled with relief as he locked eyes with them. "Welcome."

Arukenimon flocked to his side to help him sit up, and he coughed a bit. The sight concerned the visitors a bit, so Miyako had to ask if he was alright. The white haired lady replied, "The boss is very sick. You should have come with Mummymon yesterday--"

"You're being rude, Arukenimon," he shushed her. "I'm fine now, thank you. Would you and Mummymon please wait outside while I speak with them?"

She grimaced, feeling a bit useless, and let them be. The small, quiet room was a bit intimidating, but the man insisted they take a seat with him. Hawkmon was the first to do so, and he tugged Miyako down to his side. "You've been wanting to see us, sir?" the digimon opened the conversation.

"Please, it's Oikawa. Yukio Oikawa," he coughed a bit more, but smiled fondly as he patted the feathered head. "And you must be a Hawkmon, am I right?"

"I see you know us already?"

"Of course I know what a Hawkmon is," the sickly man continued to smile gently as he rubbed his head. "It's so nice to see a real digimon again."

"Oh, then you already know me, too?" Miyako grinned and pointed to herself.

"No, actually," Oikawa said a bit slower. "I haven't the foggiest idea who you are."

"And I thought visiting my grandparents was bad," she moaned. "I'm Miyako."

"All I know is that you came from the digital world with Hawkmon," the man switched to a more serious tone. "And that's why I've been needing to talk to you about the Yamaki."

"What about them?" she pressed him for answers, suspicious that he might be her enemy. "Tell me everything you know about them."

"That's exactly my intention. We go back a long way."

Miyako and Hawkmon listened closely as he recalled the events that started about twenty years before hand, from when the Yamaki first started. "It was a quieter time then, and digimon were hardly something people in this world knew about. There was a small group of us who studied them… myself, Hiroki, and Takenouchi. I never did call him by his first name."

In the present day, Shuu was smirking grimly to himself as he tapped his foot. Jun scooted closer to him, a little curious. "Are you worried about your little brother?"

"I'm not worried about Jyou. I'm just hoping he won't screw up a little job," he replied without looking back at her. "I'm tired of waiting for you to turn on the computer."

"I already told you, I don't know how," she pursed her lips. "And don't you go dragging Daisuke into this."

"But if you won't, he might be the only one who will," Shuu locked a firm glance with her. "You're no longer useful to us, Jun."

"W-what do you mean by that?" the prisoner backed away nervously. "Are you going to--"

Before she could finish, they both heard Shin's alarmed voice from out in the hall.

"W-what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to leave the school!"

Shuu furrowed his eyebrows in befuzzlement, and then immediately left Jun's company to go see to the matter. "Why did you come here unannounced? We should have given you a proper welcome," he said smoothly. "…Sora."

"I came to talk to my father," she said firmly. "Where is he right now?"

Shin gulped a bit before looking back at his older brother, searching his face for what they should do next. It wasn't a good idea to reject her request, but without some advance warning, her father would be livid that she disobeyed his orders.

"He's busy right now," the older one lied. "May we escort you to your room and then let you know when he's available to speak with you?"

"Very well," she rolled her eyes and followed Shin down the dimly lit halls. His nerves were a bit shot that she had left the flower arranging school against her orders, and couldn't help but worry about what else she had been deciding on her own lately. She sensed this, and spoke up. "I broke my engagement with Taichi."

In the small hut on the hill, Hawkmon and Miyako were very silent as Oikawa recalled how he and his friends used to do a little research on the digital world, and the digimon who lived there. In that time, it was a hobby, and never caused any harm to them.

"However," the man said, because there's always a 'however' in life. "We were able to measure the relationship between our worlds, and slowly noticed it shifting. One at a time, the important points in the digital world were destroyed for some reason or another, and the worlds started to breach."

"Important points?" Hawkmon gasped a bit. "Could that possibly mean the Destiny Stones?"

Miyako's stomach churned as she was reminded of why she had turned back the clock in the first place, and her face went pale. Hawkmon was pained as he noticed her, but Oikawa didn't notice her reaction at all.

"Quite possibly," Oikawa replied to the little digimon. "At first, it was exciting. We started to fantasize about a portal being opened for us to go explore the digital world. We tried to activate a bit more of the rift, hoping that our theory was correct."

"That's horrible!" Miyako yelled back. "If you destroyed them all, it's not like a door will just appear out of no where. Those Destiny Stones are safeguards between our worlds, so that they don't completely collide!"

"Hiroki did think of that, after we had already gone a little far with our experiments," the sickly man hushed his tone, a little guilty. "We didn't carry everything out before we got results, though. Instead of us traveling to the digital world, digimon started coming to our world instead, through various digital plains."

"That's happened before," Hawkmon thought back to their own past, when the digimon appeared all over the world.

"Not that we knew of," Oikawa continued. "The first ones were violent beings, though, and we were scared out of our wits. We all agreed to run away and act as if we hadn't done anything, but we still were destined to run into more digimon. Fortunately, Hiroki and I met the more friendly digimon. From them, we were able to learn more about the wonderful ways the digital world worked. On the other hand, Takenouchi met the more powerful ones, and his curiosity was sparked. He continued studying them, but his methods were cruel. It was like he didn't even recognize them as being alive."

Hawkmon's spine chilled as he imagined what they might have been put through. "Then what happened?"

"The friendly man we used to know was corrupted by his own exploration. He used his vast wealth to fund the Yamaki, for the sake of doing more research. They gained power by turning people against the digimon, but were enraged when a few people started to have 'partners'. Since Lord Daisuke and his partner V-mon went into power so long ago, they went into hiding, but still had a strong influence over the people.

"Knowing what Takenouchi was up to, Hiroki and I couldn't be idle anymore. A young man, Osamu, came to join us, and we all fought against them. Unfortunately, they were far stronger than us. Hiroki and Osamu were killed, and I went into hermitage to save my own skin. Since then, I worked hard to create Arukenimon and Mummymon, against my better judgment. They've been a great help to me and have been eager to fight the Yamaki, but I feel guilty for having messed with the digital world. They aren't real digimon, after all."

"Bad things do happen when you try to mess with the digital world," Miyako's heart sank. "And that's the whole reason everyone's in this mess now. I… after all, I…" her voice went silent as her lip shook, succumbing to a flood of tears.

"What are you talking about?" Oikawa grew very concerned with her sudden outburst. "This is our fault--"

"No, none of this would have happened," she hiccupped, and Hawkmon supportively took her hand. She squeezed, prepared to make a confession. "Hawkmon and I aren't from this time. We're actually from the future, and visited the digital quite often. And after everything was finally safe, I got a little full of myself and decided to go romp around the digital… partly to satisfy my own curiosity."

The sickly man looked wildly at her, trying to fathom what she was saying. He asked no questions as she continued.

"Even though I'm one of the Chosen Children, there's really so much more I don't know about the digital world, and digimon, and my D-3... I wanted to know more, so I thought I'd go ask one of the Sovereign digimon to tell me more. I had only met him once… at that last Destiny Stone."

Miyako fell very silent again, except for occasional choking back a few sobs. Oikawa still wasn't sure he was on the same page with them, so he looked to Hawkmon with wide eyes, pleading with him to clarify what was making her so upset.

Hawkmon's eyes sank to the ground, as he gathered up the courage to finish for his partner, trying to chose the gentlest words. "The last time the children met him, they used their digivices to summon Azulongmon to that Destiny Stone. It wasn't working when only Miyako tried it, so she… oh, my typical Miyako," he chuckled weakly. "…started pushing buttons."

"Digital… detect… and destroy," Oikawa mused. "Those were the three functions of those digivices, weren't they?"

"Yes," Hawkmon looked back sympathetically at Miyako. "We found out a little more about the last one."

"That's right," Miyako swiped a hand under her glasses to wipe away her tears. "I think I destroyed the last one. But to make matters worse, I ran away, and tried to fix things by setting back the digital clock. And now, the real world is in this condition. I'm sorry."

Oikawa stayed very quiet, trying to piece everything together in his mind. There was no reason for her to apologize to him, since he was no idea how things may have changed. After all, that was the only way he knew this world. He also couldn't feel mad at her for having destroyed the last Destiny Stone and potentially forcing both worlds to collide with each other and collapse. After all, he had done very similar things before.

"Miyako," he finally said and extended a hand to her shoulder. She looked up with a pitiful, tearstained face, and Oikawa gave her a gentle smile. "The only thing I could possibly be mad at you for is running away from your problems. But I can see that you want so much to correct them now."

"Like you do, having made Arukenimon and Mummymon?" she sniffled.

"Yes," he looked away sadly. "I made them with the intention of fighting the Yamaki. But I'm not strong enough to stand up to them anymore." As if on que, he started coughing, and Miyako and Hawkmon scooted to either side of him instantaneously to support him. "But you and Hawkmon might be able to finally put them in their place."

The last of her tears having disappeared, she nodded firmly. "Of course! We're already set on doing that!"

"I can't go, but I want to send Arukenimon and Mummymon with you to help."

The aforementioned two burst through the door in an instant, with Arukenimon yelling, "We were going to go even if you told us not to! We've been waiting for the chance to show those yakuza who's boss!"

Oikawa raised his voice. "Didn't I tell you to let us talk in private?"

Mummymon giggled. "Haven't you learned by now that we don't follow directions very well?"

"Speak for yourself, you bonehead."

Miyako smiled a bit and wiped her face dry. "We should get going right away, then, before the rest of our party forgets about us. Thanks for all your help, Mr. Oikawa."

He smiled weakly. "It was nice to meet you both. Say hi to Takenouchi for me."

Hawkmon bowed on their way out, and Miyako smiled with confidence as she said, "We'll absolutely make things right this time."

* * *

Well... uh... not what you all expected? I know it's supposed to be the crux of the story, so I hope I didn't let you down. The _good_ stuff will keep coming, though! Iori and Ken start their show down in the next chapter! 


	12. Chapter 12

Yay! There's a big Ken flashback in this chapter! Woot! And... um... no Miyako & Hawkmon. They'll be in the following chapter with thier new allies.

* * *

"Iori? Iori, wait up!" Armadimon pleaded with his partner as they ran across the hills. Such a heavy katana would normally have slowed the boy down, but his adrenaline was running rapidly. "Iori, please wait for a minute!"

The boy stopped abruptly, enough to startle the digimon, who had to grabbed the dirt tightly to keep himself from running into him. Armadimon looked up at his face curiously, and saw him biting his lip and his eyes welling up in tears. "A-Are you alright?"

"I-I'm sorry, Armadimon. I've been waiting for this opportunity for years… ever since that night grandpa was killed."

"Iori," the digimon felt a pang in his stomach as he looked back at him. That night, the two of them watched the chaos from afar, and discovered his grandfather's body after he was already slain. It was nearly pitch black that night, but they could still make out the figure of a young swordsmen, and his partner, Stingmon. The two figures had their swords drawn, and Stingmon was saying, 'Let's get out of here before they discover us, Ken.'

But they had already been discovered by the small boy and his digimon, and Iori never forget what they looked like.

"I know you wish I could just forget what happened… but I can't do that. If Ken is nearby, then I have to take this chance."

"You could get hurt," Armadimon offered weakly, in an vain attempt to change his mind.

"I know," the boy replied. "But you know how long I've been waiting to do justice to my grandfather… I might not get this chance again." He looked down at Armadimon, with a feirce, but also fearful look in his eyes. "Please don't try to stop me."

He still knew he should stop him, but instead took his trembling hand. "Please be careful, Iori."

Iori smiled at his support. "Thank you, Armadimon." With that, the two continued searching quickly.

At the outskirts of the city once again, Hikari and Tailmon hid in the back of the cart with Patamon as Takeru pushed it along. Patamon had forgiven how curiously they had poked him earlier, and was filling them in on his life story. How he was so happy to meet Takeru, and how the only time he was ever able to protect Takeru was when he lead him out of the burning house the night his family was killed. How they had been scraping for food since then, and how he had to hide from everyone's angry gazes because he was a digimon.

Tailmon had always suspected that the world beyond their castle walls might be very different from what they knew, but the feeling of having so many people hating her was settling in fairly well. She looked to Hikari, who was hugging her legs to her chest tightly as she faced reality. "It's so hurtful that that should happen to you all," she finally said. "How can people be so… so… I don't know. It's just so hard to imagine everything that you've been through."

"I can't imagine how you've lived without it," Patamon replied.

"It was all really exciting, at first," she leaned her cheek on her shoulder as she remembered what happened years and years before. "Daisuke was playing with the computer, and opened some kind of gate for V-mon to come through. I loved playing with him, and then a few years later, Tailmon came. I've had her company ever since, and everyone in the castle has taken care of us…"

"It must be nice," Patamon sighed, a little jealous. "When I first met Takeru, his parents were just as thrilled, and were always feeding me little cakes… and I haven't worked off the extra pudge since!" he laughed and poked himself. "It didn't last long, though."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tailmon said, but had a sudden craving for cakes because he mentioned it. "I'm sorry to hear about all of this."

"I wonder what kind of situation Miyako must be in right now with Hawkmon," Hikari pondered, and then poked her head out of the cart to face Takeru. "Where do you last see them, anyway?"

"Um… on the end of the cart, actually," he laughed nervously. "They sure aren't there anymore. Iori and Armadimon are missing, too."

"Maybe they got sucked into a digi-port or something?" Tailmon poked her head out as well.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Takeru replied, trying to hide how worried he was. After all, it was as if they vanished into thin air. "I hope they aren't getting themselves into trouble… or rather, I hope Miyako isn't. Iori probably won't run into anything he can't handle."

Ken and Wormmon trudged along as usual, and the hot sunshine suddenly disappeared behind a cloud. "Well, that's a bit of a relief," Wormmon commented on the cooler temperature. His pleasant thoughts were disrupted, though, when a big rain drop hit his forehead.

"Do you feel that, Wormmon?" Ken asked, in all seriousness.

"The rain? Yes?" he blinked as another one hit him. The rain was slow, but steady.

"No… I've got this bad feeling," Ken swiped out his katana and held it ready, "Someone's coming."

"Are you sure?" Wormmon got a sinking feeling. "Should I digivolve into Stingmon?"

"I wouldn't do that just yet," the boy stood completely still, but looked around cautiously with his eyes. "There!"

He spun around just in time to deflect a younger boy's sword, as Iori had just jumped at him from one of the hilltops. Wormmon was startled and jumped backwards, just as Armadimon was catching up to the action. Ken used his sword to push Iori back to the ground, were he caught his breath and took a close look at the boy he had just attacked. "I'm sure of it… you're Ken."

"I see you know who I am," Ken looked down at him, still brandishing his sword. "So who are you to attack me?"

"Only someone you didn't kill before when you had the chance!" he yelled and swung his katana forward again. Ken caught it against his own, and slid it away, only giving Iori a chance to rebound at his other side. Ken was just barely able to deflect that one as well, but could tell this boy was going to keep him on his toes. He was obviously well-trained in his swordsmanship… but where could he have learned this style?

"The kendo dojo!" Ken thought aloud, and then pressed his sword against Iori's. The pressure they both were putting against each other made them stand still, with their blades edging towards each other's faces. Ken took that opportunity to look him in the eyes. "You were part of the Hida dojo, weren't you?"

"You would know my Grandpa's style, wouldn't you?" he accused him, and then slid his katana downwards against Ken's to split out of the hold they made together.

"The old man there? I only fought him once--"

"I know!" Iori yelled furiously and struck at Ken's fist, giving his fingers a thin cut. It was still enough to startle Ken and make him yelp in pain, and Iori drew back for another swing. "It was all you needed to slaughter him!"

Wormmon flinched as he watched. "Ken, look out!"

It was awkward, but Ken was able to swing around to barely catch the blade with the tip of his own. He looked cautiously at how close it was, and thrust Iori backwards again. Wormmon was only relieved for a moment though, until Iori charged again, verbally confirming that today he would take revenge.

"I'll kill you and avenge him, Ken!"

The blades continued to clash against each other, and Wormmon weakly looked over to Armadimon, who he hardly noticed before. The yellow digimon had a pained expression, both worried for his partner's life in this fight, and worried about his innocence coming to a startling conclusion. "Are you that boy's partner?" Wormmon asked, hoping he would stop him. Obviously, Ken didn't want to hurt his opponent, but wouldn't be able to get away with just defending himself forever.

Armadimon nodded slowly, but didn't look back. Wormmon gulped, and looked back towards the fight.

"You must be mistaken!" Ken pressed Iori's sword against the ground with his own, and was positioned close enough to nearly breath down the younger boy's neck. "Just what did you see that night?"

Iori sweated, struggling to pull his sword back up. "I saw enough."

"But you're wrong! I didn't kill him!"

"Then who did? Who else was there that night?"

"I…" Ken trailed off, and grew a little less confident. "I don't know…"

"I don't want to hear any excuses!" Iori yelled and used his own body to shove Ken out of the way and pull his sword back upward. "I know you killed him!"

Catching his footing again, the older boy stood his ground again to deflect Iori's attacks. His minded drifted out of the moment and back to the past, though. That night at the dojo, he was ducking out from the cold, and trying to hide Wormmon as always. He had been living by himself for as long as he could remember, except for Wormmon's company.

In that time, he heard a rumor that a respected kendo master was inviting to digimon for some reason or another, and thought that perhaps they could seek refuge in the dojo. In the evening, the old man met him in private.

"What's your name, son?"

"I'm Ken Ichijoji," he said, in his younger age. "And this," he motioned behind himself to a shy digimon, "is Wormmon."

"You say that you want to stay here?" he had asked in a firm voice. "This isn't a hotel or an orphanage, you know."

"I heard that you already were letting one orphan live here, though," Ken said meekly.

"You should know better than to listen to rumors, Ken," he scolded. "He's staying with me because he's my grandson, and he trains in the dojo."

"If he were to train under you, would you let us stay?" Wormmon offered.

The old man raised an eyebrow, amused. "Train with me? Have you ever even held a sword before?"

Ken shook his head. "I can try, though."

"Ha ha ha! That's a good attitude. How about you take a shot at it?" he handed him a katana, while arming himself with another. Ken was flustered to hold a real weapon, but did his best to attack the old man- who easily beat him without even unsheathing his own katana. With a final bop on Ken's head, he laughed again, and said, "You tried hard, but I don't know."

"Please, sir! If you teach me, I won't even have to stay here… Wormmon and I will be able to take care of ourselves!" he bowed at his feet, and Wormmon followed his lead.

"You can sleep in small room by the dojo for tonight, and I'll tell you my decision tomorrow," he said. Ken and his digimon were grateful that they would sleep in a warm place that night, but awoke in the middle of the night to some unusual noises.

"Are those footsteps?" Wormmon asked. "Do you think that old man always runs around the dojo at night?"

"Let's go check it out, Wormmon," Ken replied, and edged his way towards the door. "I-I think I better take a sword, just in case…"

"Yeah… just in case," the digimon nodded. He had only just grabbed it, though, when a few people he couldn't make out the shapes of stormed through the door. Ken was startled and felt to the floor, unable to move in fright. One of the figures raised a bloody sword over him, letting a few drops splatter on Ken's horrified face, and Wormmon felt in his bones what he needed to do. Before the figure would thrust his weapon down against his partner, he digivolved into Stingmon, and with one mighty movement, sent the figures flying through the door. "This way, Ken!" he helped the scared boy up, and they ran into the dojo.

There, though, they only found the old man's body, and were too frightened to stick around as they heard more footsteps. "Let's get out of here before they discover us, Ken."

They ran outside, Ken still clentching the sword and not having wiped the blood off his face, only to be discovered by the surrounding people who heard the commotion. "It was him! That boy and his vile digimon killed the dojo master!"

"W-wait! You've got it all wrong!" Ken tried to yell, but the people were all throwing stones at him. Stingmon knew he needed to protect Ken, but wasn't sure what to do against innocent people. He held his small, scared partner against him as the rocks hit his back.

It stopped, however, when a young, fair-haired drifter stepped in between the two parties. "This many people, all gaining up on one digimon? And he's not even fighting back?"

"Get out of the way, kid!"

Stingmon used that chance to dedigivolve to Wormmon, and he and Ken huddled together as they listened to the swift clanging of blades, and then the people escaping in different directions. When they were sure it was safe, they looked back up at their savior.

"So you were a big, powerful Stingmon, huh?" drifter brushed his hair out of his face and smirked at them. "Didn't seem like you knew what you were doing."

"Well… yeah…" the battered little Wormmon's eyes searched the ground, a little embarrassed.

"I'm Yamato. Who are you two?" he knelt down by them.

"This is Wormmon, and I'm Ken… Ken Ichijoji. Thank you very much for saving us, Mr. Yamato."

"Ichijoji?" Yamato raised his eyebrows, having heard the name before. "Say… are you two alone? And do you have to put up with that all the time?"

Ken nodded. "It's not normally this bad, though."

"I'll come right out and ask… would you two like me to train you? I think it would be good for you… and I hate seeing a digimon get treated like that."

The years that followed were filled with training, and living along Yamato's side amongst the hills. Every so often, he would disappear for a while on his own little mission, and Ken might run into people who still knew him as the person who killed the dojo master. But he and Wormmon grew confident in their abilities, and settled into the lives of drifters, protecting the countryside. Yamato eventually left them on their own, and life was fairly quiet- until today.

Ken snapped back into the present as the tip of Iori's katana brushed his chin. He groaned and jumped backwards a few steps to hold his chin with the hand that was still bleeding. This boy had a serious intent to kill him, so dodging was going to get him no where. He took a deep breath as Iori charged at him again, but this time he didn't wait for the younger boy to strike first.

Armadimon and Wormmon both cringed on the sidelines as they heard Iori yelp and drop his katana, and hold his arm in pain. Ken had freshly cut the skin on his left forearm.

"Are you ready to back down, now?" Ken panted a little. The rain was still falling slowly and steadily, but not enough that they were soaked. Iori glared back up at him and dashed for his sword.

"It'll take more than that to stop me now," he replied firmly, and they clashed swords together again, neither one giving up soon.


	13. Chapter 13

A little note to my favorite anonymous reviewer: No, I loved feeling stalked! For my fanfiction, anyway. XD I set up that Livejournal just for anyone who'se curious, so you're welcome to keep watching it.

Okay, on with the chapter!

* * *

"Wow, and I thought Boss was bad for what he and his friend's tried to do to the digital world," Mummymon's eyebrows were raised wide as he hovered at Miyako's side. "You actually went and did it! Was it really that easy to break?"

"This is exactly why Oikawa told you not to eavesdrop, isn't it?" Hawkmon shot an annoyed glance over at him, and fingered his head feather. "Miyako, anytime you want me to make him quiet…"

"Don't worry about it, Hawkmon, it was my mistake," she said in a chipper tone. It was a huge relief to tell someone other than her partner exactly what had happened, and it was uplifting to talk with Oikawa as an friend for the first time. It would still be a little weird to look at Arukenimon and Mummymon as her allies, though.

Hawkmon hmphed and folded his arms. He was just as pleased to find help, but a part of him was jealous about not being Miyako's sole protection. A samurai didn't need help! He was wiser than his jealous side, though, and quickly shut that part of himself up. "Do we know exactly where we're headed, anyway? To the Yamaki?"

"I would prefer to lead you straight to the Yamaki," Arukenimon heaved a sigh. "But we have no idea where they are. That's why we're going back to where you got separated from your friends."

"That's right," Miyako pondered. "I wonder what they've been up to since those ninja attacked us?"

Armadimon shuddered as he watched Iori's left arm bleed, knowing that there was nothing he could do. This fight could end his partner's life, but if he intervened, it would crush his confidence. At times, he wished he didn't have such a stubborn partner. This wasn't the time to be wishing for anything other than Iori's safety, though.

Despite the wound, the smaller boy seemed to be holding his own pretty well. He twisted his body around to make it seem like he was going to make a large cut at Ken, but instead surprised him by driving the hilt into Ken's right shoulder. The older boy nearly dropped his katana in surprise, but caught his grip again to swipe upwards at Iori. He jumped back, which gave them both time to clash swords again as normal.

The digimon continued to watch, as if in a state of camaraderie, but said nothing to each other.

"This is about where I lost sight of them," Takeru said, a little ways off. "It was like they vanished into thin air."

Now that they were out of the town, Hikari was relieved to stretch out of the cart. The light rain drops felt so gentle, and different from anything she had ever experienced inside the castle walls. She couldn't help but mentally scold Taichi for trying to protect her from everything, including the weather. Tailmon wasn't quite as pleased with the sprinkling, though.

Despite that, the white digimon stretched as well, but then paused. "What's that sound?"

"I don't hear anything," Hikari responded.

Patamon lifted his large ear to listen as well. "It sounds like a sword fight."

"Really?" Hikari didn't realize how excited she became. She didn't like it when people hurt each other, but this was a trip from the ordinary for her.

Takeru looked off the distance where the sound was coming from. "I… I don't want to say for sure… but.."

"But what?" his digimon faced him with the utmost concern, and already had an inkling of what he was thinking.

"Nevermind, he wouldn't be fighting with a real katana," he smiled, trying to chase away the tension. "Besides, sword fights are dangerous, so we should steer clear of it. Right, Hikari? …Hikari?"

The girl was already running down the hill in curiosity, as best as she could in a kimono. Tailmon followed, and they paid no attention to their caretakers behind them. Takeru and Patamon gawked for a moment, but smacked their foreheads and groaned as they followed. "This cart isn't supposed to off road, you know…"

"Then leave it, Takeru!"

He did so, and caught up to her quickly. What a troublesome girl.

"Look, Tailmon," she picked up her digimon to give her a better view. "Those boys look so young to be fighting."

The blonde boy already felt a knot in his stomach as he took a look at the action. "I-Iori!"

The girls simultaneously gasped a bit. "You know him? That's the little boy you mentioned earlier?"

"Iori, what are you doing!" he ignored them and blindly ran towards the fight, hoping to intervene. He was stopped abruptly, though, by Armadimon at his legs. "A… Armadimon? What's going on? Why aren't you helping him? Or stopping him?"

The digimon sadly avoided his gaze, but simply shook his head. "You know that you shouldn't try to stop him."

Unsatisfied with that response, Takeru growled and looked back up, ready to yell something at his young friend. Patamon crashed his train of thought by landing tightly on his head, though. He wanted Takeru to go stop everything as well, but knew Armadimon well enough to respect his decision.

Hikari and Tailmon were just catching up to his side, panting heavily, as Takeru clentched his fists, trying to listen to the digimon, but still spoke in a loud voice. "What do you think you're doing, Iori? Why right now?"

The younger boy ignored him as he continued to clang his blade against Ken's, and was driven backwards a bit.

"Stop trying to act so tough!" the blonde boy yelled louder, but less angry this time. "I know that you want justice for your grandfather… but isn't there some other way?"

Of course, Iori and Ken could hear everything he was saying. With out moving his head away from the fight as he pressed as the younger boy's sword, Ken's eyes glanced over at the spectators. Half a second later, he returned his focus to Iori, who was closing his eyes tightly as if to block out what he was saying.

"You're a smart kid, and you hate unnecessary violence. That's why I always had hope that you would find some other way to move on!" Takeru sank to his knees, and his chin shook as he grew more emotional. "You shouldn't be doing this."

Back in the town, Taichi was tired, and was having no luck finding Hikari. Having just been dumped by his fiancé was no treat, either. Because of his high status, everyone recognized him and would become silent as he approached, therefore giving him no rumors to lead on. After running through the streets and calling her name, he finally placed his hands on his knees to stop and catch his breath. A waitress from the building next to him heard his heavy panting, and came out to investigate. "Oh.. Wow, you look exhausted!" Mimi exclaimed.

"What…" he said in a little gasp for air and turned to face her slowly, "gave you… that idea?"

"Just wait right there- on second thought, it doesn't look like you're moving any time soon- and I'll go get you some water!" she ran back inside. Just then, the rain moved over that end of the city, and Taichi was relieved of the scorching sunlight.

"Here you- oh!" Mimi felt a rain drop hit her smack dab in the forehead. "It looks like you've already got some water."

He paid no mind to that comment and silently took the water to guzzle down. "Thanks. Say… have you seen a girl with a digimon around here?"

"You mean Miyako? You bet I have! I think she left town already, though."

"No, not _that _girl with a digimon," he groaned. "Never mind, I'll keep looking."

"Well, okay," she blinked. "Did you want any food?"

He shook his head and walked off in the other direction, leaving Mimi blinking at his behavior. "Well, good luck anyway, sir."

"Miyako," he said allowed to no one imparticular. "I hope that if Hikari might have gotten to you, that you're taking care of everything."

Miyako sneezed at her being mentioned. "Someone's talking about me…"

"Arukenimoooooon, my dearest little pumpkin," Mummymon cooed. "I'm hungry. When's dinner?'

"Oh, I can handle that," Miyako grinned. "After all, Taichi gave me-- gyaaaaah!"

"W-what's the matter, Miyako?" Hawkmon blinked at her ruffled expression.

"It's gone! I lost my credit card!" she frantically fished around in her kimono sleeve. The search was in vain though, and she mourned the lost of her source of money.

"You better hope Taichi doesn't find out," her partner shook his head in exasperation.

Yamato, on the other hand, was casually swinging a little clay slate around his finger, whistling a little tune. Jyou was continuing to groan. "Yamato, can't we take a break any time soon?"

"You tell me. How much longer until we hit the Yamaki hideout?"

"I don't think we'll get there by night fall," he leaned back to look up at the darkening clouds. "Why don't we--"

"Wait," Yamato flashed his hand up in front of his face to make him quiet. "There's some digimon around here."

"You can tell?" Jyou's glasses slid down his nose.

"I've always felt a little connection to the little guys."

"Now that you mention it, so have I," he smiled fondly. "But in my situation, I always had to chase that feeling away."

"Who knows, Jyou. Maybe you have a partner out there somewhere."

"Not here, though. And that's probably a good thing," he said firmly. "Now what's this about digimon near by?" He hoped in the pit of his stomach that it wasn't the Yamaki doing their usual experiments, and that he hadn't lead Yamato straight to them.

The fair haired wanderer cupped his hands to his ears, and shifted his glance around as he listened. "I've a feeling it's that way, just outside town."

"Outside town?" Jyou perked up.

"Don't go get any funny ideas about returning to your ransom mission," Yamato warned him as they both took off in that direction.

Takeru continued to weakly kneel as he watched helplessly, as Armadimon had already been doing. Patamon leaned on him supportively but looked away, and Hikari and Tailmon held each other tight as they watched silently. Wormmon felt hurt on Ken's behalf that this event was taking place, and knew he should root for Ken, but didn't want to see him forced to hurt a child.

Ken had just barely left himself open to attack, and Iori took that opportunity to strike at his collarbone, where he sliced his garments and the first layer of skin. Ken wanted to cry out in pain, but had to take the small frame of time while Iori was readjusting himself to strike. The younger boy didn't expect the return strike, and Ken was able to thrust against him hard enough to hit the ground.

The onlookers all gasped as Iori was flat against the ground, unable to spring back up because of the tip of Ken's katana being pressed to his face. They both panted heavily, neither daring to move, and Ken lifted his free hand to his newest wound. "Listen… I'm sorry about your grandfather."

"You make it sound like it was an accident," Iori glared back as he continued catching his breath. He didn't want to sound afraid of his predicament, but ultimately was.

"I don't know what happened to him, so you have no business bringing me into this! I can't help you!" Ken yelled firmly, trying to drive a point into Iori's mind.

"Are you saying I've been wasting all this time chasing after you?" his glare started to fill with tears, though he tried to ignore that they were flowing. "If not you, then who is there to blame? Who else would have been in the dojo that night?"

"I…" Ken felt a little less confident, "I don't know."

"I saw you there, with his blood all over your face, and Stingmon armed behind you." Iori continued to accuse him, with even more conviction. "That image has been burned into my mind. I see it every night!"

Iori then abruptly rolled to his right and struggled back to his feet, and prepared a kendo stance. His arm still throbbed, but he was too focused to let it bother him. "I'll avenge you, Grandpa!"

His next move was easy to read, and Ken identified the perfect place to strike and end the fight. It would be costly, but he was being left with no choice. Just before he could strike, though, a familiar voice rang through his head.

"Ken, stop!"

The surprised drifter spun his head around to see who had called out to him. Yamato was nearly gliding down the hill, with Jyou struggling to keep up. Immediately, he dodged out of Iori's way to go kneel before him obediently. Wormmon was just as shocked at this sudden reappearance, and edged his way forward to go greet him.

It was almost as if they completely forgot about the fight with Iori, but he certainly didn't forget. He was a little irked that this guy was cutting in on his fight, but paid him no mind as he ran forward to strike Ken while he was distracted.

Without much effort, though, Yamato lifted his hilt to catch Iori's katana, but to his surprise. "Jeez, kid. I thought you would have figured it out by now, too."

"Figured what out?" he blinked.

"Ken didn't do anything to your grandfather. If anything, the two of you probably should have banded together a long time ago."

At this, Ken also picked up his head, curiously. "What do you mean, Yamato?"

Before the fair-haired wanderer could explain, Takeru's eyes shot wide open. "Yamato!"

Hearing his name, Yamato was surprised and dropped his cool act. He searched the onlooker's faces, and found Patamon, sitting right next to a stunned blonde boy.

"Ta… Takeru?"


	14. Chapter 14

The rain slowly stopped and the clouds cleared away, but the sky was still getting darker as the sun began to set. Everyone stayed very silent for a moment and watching the two boys look back at each other in disbelief. Both looked as though they were watching ghosts, and weren't sure what sort of move to make. Patamon finally broke the silence with excitement. "Wow! Is that really you, Yamato?" the small digimon floated over to the older boy with a big smile. "Do you remember me?"

Yamato wiped the dumbstruck look off his face and smirked back at him. "How could I forget? You're just as pudgy as I remember."

"You still like to tease me!" Patamon joked back.

"Yeah," he laughed, trying to get past the awkward atmosphere. "And Takeru, you… you're almost as tall as I am! When did that happen?"

Takeru had lowered his head, with his shoulders shaking a bit. Armadimon was grateful to return to his injured partner's side by now, and the two of them watched his reaction carefully. Iori wanted to feel happy for Takeru, but felt irked that this stranger had just prevented him from exacting his revenge on Ken. Ken, on the other hand, never had the slightest clue that his teacher had a younger brother, but felt a little hurt that his reunion with him was cut short.

"Hey, Hikari?" Tailmon whispered to her partner. "Isn't Yamato that drifter that Taichi hates?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," she replied just as quietly. "But he doesn't seem like a bad guy to me."

"Takeru? Are you okay?" Yamato asked, hoping to break the silence. His younger brother shot back up with face full of tears, which startled Yamato a bit.

"All this time I thought you were gone," he choked, but smiled with relief. "Where have you been all these years?"

Yamato's big-brother instinct flowed back through him as he swiftly moved to his side, eager to wipe away the tears. It had been so long since he had done that. Takeru stopped him, however, by clinging to his shoulders tightly, and still keeping his wavering smile, said, "I just… I'm so happy."

It felt a little awkward to be hugged so tightly, but Yamato gave in and hugged back, unable to hide his own relieved smile.

The rest of onlookers stayed very quiet so as not to interrupt them, but were eager to back track. After all, Yamato had just dropped a bomb on Iori and Ken by saying that they should ally together, but didn't specify why. Jyou, though he barely knew anyone here but Yamato, felt even more awkward, and looked around the group idly. He spotted the two boys who were plighted with injury.

"This looks pretty bad," he took the younger's arm and looked it over. "Mind if I patch it up? I've got some medical training, after all…"

"He doesn't mind at all!" Armadimon answered in Iori's stead. "Please, help him!"

"And Ken! Ken needs some bandaging, too!" Wormmon insisted and pawed at the stranger's legs.

"S-Sure, no problem. I need to keep myself busy," he answered nervously, having never been so close to a couple of digimon- especially such pleading ones. Their partners didn't respond, but didn't put up a fight as he tended to their injuries.

Before long, Miyako's troupe was heading back over the hills, eager to meet back up with Iori and Takeru and their digimon. Little did they expect to find a few others that had joined them. "Hey, guys! Miss me-- huh?" she blinked as she looked down on the others, a little surprised to see Yamato and Takeru catching up with each other and Jyou applying a bandage to Ken's knuckles.

"Oh, there's Miyako and Hawkmon!" Hikari waved happily. "Hi!"

"…What do you think we've been missing, Hawkmon?" Miyako blinked.

"A lot, apparently," he replied.

"Say, Arukenimon," Mummymon nudged at her side as they trodded down the hill. "Isn't that fellow Yamato?"

"It certainly is," she grumbled and ran a little faster to go twap him lopside the head, much his surprise. Yamato didn't even notice her coming with how enthralled he was with his conversion with Takeru and Patamon. "The boss has been worried about you!" Arukenimon continued. "You haven't come to visit in years!"

"What the- oh. Hi there," he sweated. "How are you two doing?"

"You know him?" Takeru pointed to Mummymon, who he and Iori had been bothered by before.

"It's a small world, isn't it?" Yamato laughed.

"It seems you know everyone," Iori eyed him, and then eyed Ken. "Would you mind picking up where you left off earlier? If not, I'd like to finish what I was doing."

"I'll get to it," Yamato switched to a more serious tone. "And it might be easier to explain now that Arukenimon and Mummymon are here." He looked around the group, which was getting harder to do in the dimming light, and spotted Miyako and Hawkmon, who were being eagerly greeted by Hikari, Tailmon, and Wormmon. He was intrigued by these new partners, just as much as anyone else, but didn't pay very close attention to them. "First, though, we all should go find a place to stay for the night. Camping out doesn't work very well with this many people."

"But also with this many people, how you do intend to pay for it?" Miyako asked.

"It shouldn't be a problem," he casually swung the clay slate around his finger, much to Miyako and Hawkmon's shock. Surely, that was their credit card! And knowing how much Taichi disliked Yamato, he would not be pleased to find out about this.

"We'll have to keep an eye on him," Hawkmon whispered to her with determination. She nodded, and the large group headed back into town.

Already in the comfort of her old home, Sora sighed as she leaned against the door frame.

"Sora!" a slightly younger boy's voice said in surprise. "When did you get back here?"

"Oh, Koushirou! What have you been up to lately?" she tried to make pleasant conversation.

"Just a setting some people against eachother here and there to do some dirty work," he shrugged. "I hear you've been doing a bit of dirty work yourself."

"You make it sound like I've been doing horrible things," she eyed him with a hint of an embarrassed smile.

"I heard from Shin that you ended your engagement to the feudal lord's advisor," Koushirou took on a more serious tone. "Your father is not going to be very happy about it. You know what kind of possibilities that could have opened up for him, and the rest of the Yamaki."

"I couldn't do that to Taichi," she frowned. "I didn't want to hurt him like that. It was wrong for Papa to set something like that up."

Koushirou gave her cynical look as he sighed. "But you had an ulterior motive, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that drifter who's always poking his nose into our business," he snapped. "You didn't give him any information when he saw you, right?"

"I already told you, I never told him anything. And it hurts to lie about it," she sighed. "I… about Yamato… that's what I need to talk to Papa about."

"He probably won't be very thrilled with this," he warned her, and in his mind was saying something more along of the lines of 'you gotta be kidding me, are you serious about all this?'.

"I know. And that's why I want to cut all my ties with the Yamaki, so I can finally make an honest bride someday."

"Sora! That's--"

"Sora," Shin slid the door open, "Your father will see you now."

Jun, meanwhile, had her ear pressed against the wall, listening to every word. "Good," she thought. "They haven't said anything about Jyou getting to Daisuke yet… still, that poor girl."

She sat up (though still tied up) and sighed with a pout. "She has all this power being the daughter of the head hancho, but she wants to throw it all away for the one she loves! Well, good luck to her! As for me…"

She started to blush as she pictured Shuu and Shin in her mind. "They're a little mean, but wouldn't it be romantic if I gave up my status as the feudal lord's sister and joined them as their yakuza princess instead? Uwaa… No! No, Jun! Snap out of it! You're not gonna let them beat you!"

With a fist clentched with conviction, she reaffirmed herself. "I won't let the people of Edo down!"

In the hotel, everyone's reunions had quieted down a bit, and Miyako and Hawkmon got a brief run down of what they missed from Hikari and Tailmon.

"It sounds like everyone's been busy today," Hawkmon yawned. "Still, I'm very curious what Yamato has to say to Iori and Ken."

The whole evening, Iori had still been sending death glares to Ken, who would turn his little bandaged chin downward to avoid looking back. Armadimon and Wormmon, on the other hand, were getting along swimmingly, and were blissful with relief that Yamato had showed up just in time earlier. They were now assembled in front of Yamato, who had Arukenimon and Mummymon kneeling to his left.

"Do you mind if we listen in?" Miyako asked, a little wry of Yamato. He did have her credit card, and Taichi was very opposed to his company. It wouldn't hurt to be a little on guard.

"Suit yourselves," he nodded, and she and Hawkmon casually folded their arms and leaned on the door frames. He turned his attention back to the two anxious boys. "It's been a while, Ken. Have you been keeping up with the countryside?"

"He has," Wormmon spoke for him. "And I thought we were already done with reunions."

"Right, sorry," he laughed, still a little giddy to have met Takeru earlier. "Just to fill you in, Iori, I met Ken the night he was wrongly accused of killing your grandfather. He could barely even hold a katana then--"

"I keep hearing that he 'didn' t do it, didn't do it'!" Iori raised his voice. "How am I supposed to belie--"

"Because he didn't. If you keep hearing it, why don't you believe it yet?" Yamato furrowed his eyebrows in his direction, a little irked at having been interrupted. "There were, in fact, other people in the dojo that night. I was one of the only people who watched them scatter, though. I'm sorry I couldn't keep up with them."

"So it was someone else who murdered him?" Armadimon perked up. "Who?"

"Let's just back track a little more," Yamato guided them along. "As you know by now, my family was attacked because Takeru had Patamon."

"Then it was because of Armadimon that--" Iori blinked, having never considered that he suffered a similar fate as his friend.

"You're still jumping ahead too much," he growled. "Be more like Ken and listen attentively." Hearing this, Ken blushed a bit and shyed away.

"If this is going to take so long, I'll cut in," Arukenimon said. "We and our boss met Yamato shortly after all that happened, and our boss hit it off with him because he had similar experiences. After all, the people he first fought the Yamaki with were killed. I think you might know them."

They paused, and shook their heads slowly. Miyako and Hawkmon stayed very quiet in the back, aware of what they were getting at. Ken and Iori didn't seem to follow, though, so noticing this, Arukenimon sighed heavily and started her storytelling.

"Our boss, Oikawa, had a couple of old friends who worked with him against the Yamaki. Hiroki had one small child at the time, and Osamu was an orphan with a much younger brother. Do these names sound familiar?"

"Osamu was my brother's name!" Ken's eyes widened. "I don't remember much about him, though… everything that happened before I met Wormmon is a little fuzzy to me. Are you saying that my brother was killed by the Yamaki?"

"Exactly," she nodded. "And Iori, you were probably too young to remember your parents, but Hiroki was your father."

He pursed his lips, soaking in the new information, but wasn't satisfied. "That still doesn't conclude what happened to my grandfather, who I _can _remember."

"He knew very well everything that happened to your parents, and why," Yamato stepped in. "But he still took the risk of taking care of you and Armadimon, even though the Yamaki probably already knew about you two. Ken just happened to be in the area the night they finally striked, and it was easy for them to frame him."

"How come you never told me any of this?" Ken finally sounded a little angry.

"I didn't think it was the right time," the fair haired drifter replied, for lack of a better excuse. "But I had no idea little Iori had a vendetta towards you, too."

"Now that you both are caught up on your Yamaki-victimhood," Mummymon finally invited himself into the conversation, "how about you both pick up where your father and brother left off? Boss would like to help, but he's really in no condition to do anything. That's why he had us try and get your attention for so long."

Neither of the boys replied right away, but Ken's thought process was broken when Wormmon climbed into his lap with big, concerned eyes. "I can tell, Ken," he said. "You want to go help fight those yakuza."

He smiled a small smile and patted his head. "You know me best, Wormmon. So, um… Iori? If there's no hard feelings, are you going to help?"

Iori sighed heavily. "I guess I should. I'm sorry for attacking you earlier on false suspicion."

Typical Iori, Miyako thought, and then switched her focus back over to Yamato- or rather, Yamato's trinket. "So, Yamato, can I ask you again how you were planning to pay for all this?"

"Oh, right," he blinked. "Who were you again? I caught Hawkmon's name, but I think I forgot yours."

Before she could reply, though, Takeru slid open a door from the other side of the room, and he and Patamon peaked in with happy faces. "Are you done yet, Yamato?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," he sent back a goofy smile, ready to go talk with Takeru more instead. He excused himself, "Sorry, I guess we'll have to chat tomorrow."

Miyako growled about being ignored, but Hikari promptly showed up behind her, giggling a bit. "Isn't it nice that they could see each other again? I'm happy for Takeru."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed. "But, uh, speaking of siblings, don't you think you might be making Taichi a little worried, since you ran away?"

Hikari rolled her eyes. "He'll be fine. Besides, I'm a little mad at him right now, anyway. I feel so bad hearing about everything everyone else has gone through, but knowing that Tailmon and I were treated like princesses while that all that was going on is even worse. Daisuke probably would have let me know if Oniichan wasn't so uptight about it."

"Well, okay," said Miyako. Little did either of them know that an exhausted feudal advisor was making his way towards the hotel.

"I don't want to throw in the towel for today, knowing that Hikari and Tailmon are probably cold and hungry somewhere," he said to himself. "But in this condition, I'm not going to be able to do much else."

His body pleaded with him to sleep to recharge himself physically and emotionally, but what waited for him inside would prevent him from doing that just yet.


	15. Chapter 15

Close your eyes... take a trip back to Digimon 01... remember how excited you got everytime Matt and Tai fought? Or how much you rolled your eyes? Well, open them back up. You're about to take another trip back to that time. No, the flashbacks won't be until the next chapter.

* * *

The sky was already fairly dark, and most of the group had started to wind down. Mummymon, thrilled about the idea of sharing a hotel room with Arukenimon, had received a fist right between his eyes and was conked out on the floor, drooling happily about who the fist belonged to. Ken, Wormmon, and Jyou all had very busy days and were already sleeping peacefully, despite how much noise Yamato and Takeru made as they caught up on the times. The others just waited for their minds to get tired, and wandered the halls of the hotel somewhat aimlessly. At least, that was what Miyako was doing as she pieced her next plan of action together in her mind.

"We suddenly have several more allies to fight the yakuza," she thought. "Even though we don't know where to find them, yet. They might have already spotted our location, though, having sent Skullgreymon and those ninja after us. Can we really afford to sleep peacefully tonight? And on the topic of affording things, Yamato has my credit card. I don't want to make an enemy out of him, but Taichi did give me a special responsibility with that…"

She finally interrupted her own thoughts by holding her head and moaning allowed, "How could I have even let that thing out of my sight! Aaaarrrrgh!"

"Are you alright, Miyako?" a small boy asked from inside the room she was parked next to. Iori seemed fairly lost in his own thoughts as well, but stayed in one place while Armadimon slept happily in his lap. Miyako smiled, since Iori always seemed to be the ying to her yang.

"As alright as I guess I can be," she smirked and shrugged, and then invited herself into the room to kneel by his side. "And how about you? Are _you _alright?"

"I'm not bleeding anymore," he replied in all seriousness and looked down at his bandaged arm.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," she rolled her eyes. "I mean, that was a lot of information to get thrown at you at once. I'm just wondering, you know, how you're taking it."

Iori sighed heavily. "Yeah."

Typical Iori, she thought to herself. Even though he was living a completely different life, she still knew him best. "Yeah? Is that all?"

"I feel embarrassed for attacking Ken," he closed his contemplative eyes, noticing that he wouldn't be able to dodge her prying. "But I feel even more embarrassed for having focused on that moment for so long. The part of me that should feel a little disappointed just feels empty."

Not hearing an immediate response from Miyako, he lowered his head as he continued to examine his inner self. "But I feel worst of all for having lived in such a lie all this time. I wish I could I have known the truth sooner, rather than let my life, and my anger, be put into something so false."

Typical, typical Iori. It was just the kind of answer Miyako expected from him, and felt driven to give her old friend a light hug around the shoulders (much to his surprise). "You're such a serious kid, Iori. Just like you were meant to be, I guess."

"What do you mean?" he blinked at her with wide eyes.

"It might sound a little weird since you only met me a few days ago," she chuckled a bit, "but I'm proud of you for biting on your pride and facing the truth so well. And you know what, Iori? I'll bet your Grandpa's proud of you, too."

Hikari and Tailmon were just as bored, but their minds were too unsettled about reality to go to sleep quite in. Instead, they were enjoying the halls of a different building that the feudal lord's castle, and ran into an unexpected visitor.

Taichi had just barely checked in when he caught sight of the digimon's familiar tail, and found that it lead to his lost little sister. At first he thought she was an illusion brought on be his fatique, but that didn't stop him from joyfully calling out her name and running to catch her.

"Hhm? Oh, Oniichan. Hi," she replied casually. "You don't look so good."

He caught his breath, but smiled an awkward smile of relief when he patted her head to verify that she was really there. "Good. You're safe. Daisuke's worried, so let's head back to the--"

"No!" Hikari yelled and pulled away. Embarrassed for having raised her voice, she shyed away, and repeated herself. "No, we're not going back yet."

"What?" Taichi gave her a puzzled look, too tired to get angry yet.

"You've been lying to us all this time," she looked him straight in the eyes and struggled to keep her resolve. "You used to make us think that people loved V-mon because he took care of them."

Before Taichi could respond, Tailmon joined in. "We saw it all. How brutally digimon and their partners are treated. You always protected us from them, but you didn't have to protect us from the truth."

"You don't need the truth," he finally took back his authoritative tone. "What good could knowing it have ever done you?"

Hikari opened her mouth to respond, but he interrupted her. "Don't answer that. You two aren't strong enough to defend yourselves, or any of the digimon around here. Leave that to the strong digimon, like Hawkmon and V-mon."

"They can use all they help they can get," Hikari half-glared, half-pouted back at him. "And that's what we came to give her."

"Even though I'm out of practice, I'm still a digimon," Tailmon affirmed herself. "I can't just lay down and let everyone else fight for me. Protecting Hikari is _my _job, and no castle walls are going to replace me."

Taichi furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips together as he tried to think of the right come back, but we interrupted by some rapid, clumsy footsteps from the other side of the hall, and Hawkmon's familiar voice whispering in a panic, "Miyako, run! It's Taichi! He looks angry!"

"Oh, so Miyako _is _here," he leaned around his little sister to get an eye full of them awkwardly trying to escape. "Have you found the Yamaki, yet?"

With out turning around to face him, Miyako and Hawkmon stayed frozen in their tracks and they sweated and cautiously answered. "Taichi. What a pleasant surprise. No, we haven't found them yet."

"What kind of progress have you made since you left? If you're at this hotel, you must not have covered much ground."

"No, we've covered plenty of ground," Miyako gritted her teeth as she slowly turned her head to face him, pleading with fate that he wouldn't find out about the missing trinket.

"Well, since Hikari and I are going to be staying here tonight, you should give me a report," he folded his arms, wry of her behavior.

"Yeah, I'd kind of like to know what's going on, too," Hikari immediately perked back up.

"Well, uh," she replied awkwardly and looked down to Hawkmon to get an idea of what to say next, but Hawkmon was fixated on someone right behind Taichi, and had even more reason to be nervous.

"Yes, I'm sure there's a lot to catch up on," Yamato smirked with over-confidence from behind the feudal lord's advisor, with Takeru and Patamon close behind him. Taichi's spine chilled up as he heard that voice, and got his second wind of energy as his blood started to boil. "It's been a while, Taichi."

Taichi didn't bother using words as he yelled in rage and charged at him. Yamato expected an exchange of insults before any flying fists, so he was surprised enough that Taichi pinned him to the ground, and eagerly lifted a fist to hit him. The younger kids and the on looking digimon all tensed up in surprised and jumped away, but Takeru was the first to jump in and try to hold his fist back. "Hey, what's the matter with you?" the blonde boy asked in astonishment as he struggled to hold back his shaking fist, but Hikari jumped into pull him out of the tussle.

It gave Yamato enough time to react and roll his head away from where Taichi was going to hit his cheek, and reached up to pushed on his shoulders, sending them rolling into the thin walls with a shaken thud. Neither was phased, though, as they lost all sense of dignity and proceeded throwing punches at each other. Miyako and Hawkmon sweatdropped from their end of the hall as they watched. "They're so brutal," Hawkmon finally commented.

His partner gulped in response. "Should we stop them?"

"They don't have any weapons, so let's just not interfere for now," he assured her.

The young boy's tussle continued rolling in either direction of the narrow hallway, with both receiving a hefty amount of bruises. Taichi finally hit Yamato's jaw hard enough to make him pause for a moment to flinch. The corners of Taichi's mouth went up weakly as he saw this, and said, "How's that? What can you do now without your pretty face?"

Yamato was going to make another snide remark in return, but paused as he finally took the time to notice that Taichi was crying. Profusely. Yamato gained his drifter-composure back again, and asked, "What's the matter with you, Taichi?"

Taichi hmphed, somewhat sarcastically. "You act like you don't know."

"I don--" Yamato was interrupted by a knuckle sandwich filling his jaw, but returned it with an upper cut to Taichi's chin. The force was enough to send Taichi off of him, so the fair haired boy took that chance to spring upward and swing at him from equal height, sending Taichi back a little further. It didn't take long for him to recooperate and fire back at him, though.

Takeru and Patamon struggled to watch, not so much because Yamato was sustaining so many bruises, but because he was acting like a barbaric child with an old rival. "It's kind of embarrassing to watch, isn't it?" he struggled to smile as she turned to Hikari.

She merely continued to watch with a pained fondness. "What happened to Taichi, I wonder? He's so sad."

Back in the quiet Yamaki lair, there was a more peaceful reunion, possibly the most peaceful reunion that had taken place all day. "Sora," Mr. Takenouchi smiled at his only child as he welcomed her into the room. "Why aren't you at the flower arranging school? Did you miss your daddy that much?"

"You know I hate it there," she sighed.

"I know," he sighed with her. "But you don't have to stay there much longer. When you get married, you'll get to live in the castle."

"And keep acting like your puppet?" she eyed him.

"No," he pouted, hoping not to offend his daughter. "That advisor is awfully fond of you, so you'll be the one puppeting _his _strings."

"That's no better, Papa!"

"Maybe so… but at least, you're fond of him too, right?"

"Fond of him, yes," she blushed and looked to the ground. "But I just don't think I can bring myself to love him."

"Love takes time, Sora," he held her chin up to smile at her face.

"Love takes _honesty_," she pushed his hand away as she corrected him. "I want to be honest to the one I love… and about the one I love."

"What do you mean?" he blinked, obviously not caught up on her circumstances.

"Taichi is not the one I love, Papa! And even if he was, I wouldn't be able to love him unless I could be honest to him. I don't want to have to hide that I'm tied to the organization."

"But this is for the good of the organization!" he protested. "Sacrifices have to be made sometimes for the greater good."

"I can certainly tell who it is that _you _love," she focused on him with resolve. "You're more concerned about these yakuza than about your own daughter's happiness."

He returned the stern glance. "Sora, that's--"

"That's why I want nothing to do with these yakuza anymore!" she yelled, and her cheeks became hot. "I always knew what we were doing was wrong, hurting all those digimon. But I didn't have anything else that was important to me. But now I do. I love Yamato, and I can just tell, he loves he back! But I'll miss this all if I keep having anything to do with these yakuza!"

"I'll hear none of this!" Mr. Takenouchi's loud voice boomed through the room. "You're going to marry Taichi Yagami as we planned, and live with a high position of authority. And you can never loose your loyalty to the Yamaki."

"No! You can't decide that for me! I'm leaving!"

At the snap of Mr. Takenouchi's fingers, Shuu and Shin appeared in the doorway to block Sora's way out. "I'm sorry," Shuu said, deeply serious. "But you need to stay until you clear your head."

And with that being said, the two forced locked her in her room, where she was left with no escape, and no comfort.

As youthful as Taichi and Yamato were acting, their stamina couldn't last forever. They had finally dropped a hold of each other, and stood a few feet away from each other. The drifter leaned his hand against a door for support, and the other leaned forward with both hands on his knees, and both were swallowing their breath. Using this free moment, Hikari flocked to Taichi's tired side full of concern, seemingly as if she forgot she was mad at him. "Oniichan, you should rest."

"What makes you think I'll get any sleep?" he heaved. He was obviously exhausted, but was unwilling to back down.

Miyako and Hawkmon also took this opportunity to step in. The digimon outstretched his wings between the ruffed up boys and said, "That's quite enough foolishness out of you two. What is the meaning of all this?"

Yamato smirked hautilly. "We just tend to bump heads here and there."

"Bump heads!" Taichi protested and stepped forward, but Hikari and Tailmon clung to his side and held him back. He stepped back with them and continued to clench his fists as he glared at Yamato. "Since when does bumping heads ruin your life?"

"What are you talking about, Oniichan?" Hikari gave him a puzzled look. Something else _must _have happened to him.

"What do you mean by that?" Yamato gave him just as puzzled of glance. Sure, he had given Taichi a hard time here and there, and kind of liked to see him get mad, but never meant to do him any real harm.

With loathsome eyes, Taichi stared him down. "I thought I could be happy, but you just seem to be able to take that away so easily."

"Just what are you talking about!" Miyako finally insisted. The Taichi and Yamato she used to know were prone to fighting (or so she heard), but she never though that one would have a vengeance for the other. "Cut to chase, Taichi. What did Yamato do you?"

"He took Sora away from me!" he yelled passionately as the few last tears ripped free, and he waved his arms in wild gestures as he spoke. "You played with her head and then left her- but you still took away the most important part of her- Sora's heart!"

Yamato blinked in response. Taichi continued.

"We could have been happy- we really loved each other! But you had to go and get her confused! What kind of man does that? How could you do that to Sora?"

Yamato still blinked, and Taichi grew impatient. "Answer me, Yamato!"

And at last, the drifter answered him: "Who's Sora?"


	16. Chapter 16

This chapter was really hard for me at first, because Taichi gives me trouble. However, Tomadoi no Umi's latest chapter in "Across the Tears" was _exactly _the inspiration I needed! A big thank-you goes out to her.

* * *

Yamato's response made everyone very silent for a moment, until Taichi tried to lunge at him again. This time, Takeru, Miyako, and Hawkmon were all prepared for the outburst and held him back. After some rapid yelling, he finally settled down they agreed to go sit down and quietly discuss what the problem was. 

Hawkmon slid the door shut behind them. "Alright, Taichi, what's your big problem with Yamato?" Miyako asked, as through conducting a trail. The two older boys sat in front of her, with the peanut gallery (Takeru, Patamon, Hikari, and Tailmon) watching from behind them.

"We go back a long way," Taichi started with a deep breath. "The first time we met, I was about eight years old, and I was enjoying a summer festival…"

"Don't tell me you're still mad about that," Yamato groaned. "It was just a little pinwheel."

"It was my pinwheel," Taichi glared back.

"No, it was mine. I was just being nice and letting you borrow it."

"Borrowing a pinwheel? Maybe that's a fancy term for how you stole it from me."

"Yeah, but you're the one who broke it."

"I was only trying to get it back from you!"

"You still broke it!"

"Both of you, be quiet!" Miyako butted in. "Geez, my siblings and I aren't even this childish when we fight. How about growing up a few years?"

The two boys quieted down as they thought back to their lives fives years before hand. Taichi closed his eyes as he remembered…

"Hikari!" an 11-year-old boy called out as he walked over the dusty courtyard. "Hikari, Daisuke wants to show you something!"

"What is it?" a little girl in a vibrant kimono turned around curiously. "Is it just more shoji screens?"

"No, it's something on the computer," he took her by the hand and led her inside. There, Daisuke was clicking away at the computer, and V-mon was pointing to things on the screen.

"Look at this, Hikari!" V-mon greeted her. "I think something's going to come out of the computer!"

"This is what it was doing when V-mon came," Daisuke smiled widely, revealing some missing teeth. "Get ready, here it comes!"

The three children and one digimon were all illuminated with the screen's light as it seemed to reach out in the from of a small cat. Taichi's heart raced with excitement as he watched the light settled onto his sister's lap, and dim out to reveal Tailmon.

"I finally found you," the digimon purred as she met eyes with her partner. "Hikari."

Hikari smiled from ear to ear as she patted her head, dazed with the joyful surprise. While Taichi was happy for his sister in some ways, he was worried in others. Now he'd have to work even harder to take care of her.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, he thought, if he had a digimon partner to help him. He's love to have a strong partner like V-mon. His thoughts were interrupted, by another boy his age yelling at a younger blonde boy and then running away.

"I should have been the one to have a digimon partner!" was what he yelled. Naturally, it caught Taichi's attention, so he followed him blindly. He wasn't entirely sure why he was chasing him, but wished he hadn't by the time he caught up and saw the boy's face.

"Hey, it's pinwheel-boy!" he observed.

"What are you talking ab--oh, it's you. That guy who lives in the feudal lord's castle," the fair haired boy replied, and quickly covered up that he was upset about something. "What do you want?"

"I don't know, I just…" Taichi trailed off, then remembered his point. "You said something about a digimon!"

"So what if I did? You know about them, because you live in the place that V-mon stays," the boy rolled his eyes. "What's it to you if I know about them, too?"

"You don't have to snap at me, Pinwheel Boy!" Taichi folded his arms. "Besides, V-mon's nothing special. It's not like he's _my _partner or anything."

"He _is _special! He's one of the only digimon who gets a little respect around here!" the boy stood up quickly and held a fist to him. "And stop calling me Pinwheel Boy! My _name _is Yamato!"

"Oh, I get it, Yamato," Taichi grew a sly grin. "You must be a fan of V-mon."

"What? I didn't say that…" Yamato blinked.

"Tell you what. Since I've got some authority around here, I'll take you to the castle to meet him," Taichi continued, because he liked feeling in charge of things. "What do you say?"

"To the castle?" Yamato continued to blink profusely, and looked down at his dusty, light, and very short kimono for an excuse to back out of the invitation. "Would they let me in dressed like this?"

"What, are you shy?" the other boy folded his arms.

"No," he defiantly folded his arms and turned away.

"Then don't shy away from an invitation," Taichi continued. "Are you coming or not?"

"I…" Yamato's eyes searched around nervously, until his ears caught the sound of his little brother's voice asking him to come home. He grimaced, since he was feeling irritated with the Patamon-related situation. "Let's go."

Back at the castle, Hikari had already secluded herself with Tailmon, and it wasn't hard to find Daisuke outside eating mochi with his own partner. "Welcome back, Taichi," Daisuke said as the ice-cream like substance dribbled out of his mouth. "Who's that guy?"

"Hey, Yamato, start bowing," Taichi waggled his eyebrows at him. "This is your feudal lord. And this," he pointed to the digimon who was equally as sticky, "is V-mon."

From just inside, a young girl's whining voice was heard. "Daisukeee! You took my mochi, didn't you?"

Taichi rolled his eyes and excused himself. "Hang on, Jun! I'll be right back, okay?" Yamato was left alone with the two sticky little figures. The stood very silently, and Yamato felt a little awkward as they continued licking their fingers.

"Hey," V-mon finally observed. "That guy smells like a digimon." Yamato stepped back nervously as V-mon jumped up to go observe him. The blue figure breathed deeply next to his leg, and concluded, "A fat one."

"Oh, that must be Patamon you smell," Yamato sighed. "He's not my digimon, he's my little brother's."

"Really?" Daisuke wiped his mouth off with his sleeve, despite the expensive fabric it was made out of. "Your brother has a digimon, too? I don't know any other boys my age with any digimon."

"I'll bet Takeru feels a little lonely about that, too," Yamato struggled to smile as he thought of his little brother. "Say, maybe you guys would get along! And maybe if Patamon and V-mon get along, we won't have to hide him anymore!"

"Really?" Daisuke and V-mon grew identical smiles.

"Yeah, let's go," the older boy led them towards to gate, and they followed eagerly, and none of them paid any mind to Taichi. The neglected one came back out to find them, only to find them missing.

Naturally, he sprinted back out, not wanting to let anything happen to Daisuke or V-mon, and was mentally beating himself up for ever bringing some stranger to their home. It didn't take long for him to spot Yamato and his little followers, and greeted them a tight fist against Yamato's nose. "So these are your true colors, Yamato!" he yelled. "You just wanted to kidnap Daisuke, didn't you!"

"I wasn't going to take them anywhere bad!" Yamato's mouth dropped as he held his nose. Pulling his hand away, he saw that blood had dripped from it, so he proceeded to push Taichi. "And you're calling _me _the kidnapper? You're the one you dragged me along in the first place!"

"I wouldn't have if I had known that you were going take Daisuke out here! Don't you know it's dangerous?" he stood his ground and pushed back. "V-mon! Go take Daisuke back right now, and wait for me to come back."

V-mon, startled to see Taichi so angry, pulled on his stunned partner's sleeve to immediately guide him back. Yamato and Taichi continued arguing until the wound up in a full on fist fight, which was eventually broken up by some surrounding adults, and a certain red-headed young girl.

"Taichi, what were you doing?" she scolded him, but he didn't pay her attention as he watched Yamato leave.

"Come on, Son," a man guided Yamato away by the shoulder's. "It's time for you to come home. We were all worried." The fair-haired boy looked over his shoulder to give Taichi an angry parting glance, and the two didn't cross paths again for a couple years.

"Oh, I remember that day now," Takeru, hearing about all of this in the present time, finally spoke up. "Yamato came home looking like a bloody pulp. Patamon and I were scared out of our wits."

"Tailmon and I were so preoccupied we never heard about anything like that," Hikari blushed for her ignorance.

"Well, it did happen," Taichi replied to her. "But of course, things didn't end there."

"What happened next?" Miyako asked.

"Like I said before, we bumped heads every so often," Yamato continued, rubbing his jaw where Taichi had slugged him shortly beforehand. "The encounters were normally pretty brief and just involved some teasing and a little rough housing."

"And it always had something to do with the digimon," Taichi added. "Every time the Yamaki made a scene, he'd poke his nose in it a little later. That's pretty suspicious, if you ask me."

"I was investigating them myself, Taichi," Yamato defended himself. "But I don't see what's making you so much more upset today than usual."

Taichi opened his mouth to yell something at him, but Miyako raised her hand to shush him so she could speak instead. "Something about Sora, I heard. Yamato, is this ringing any bells? At all?"

Taichi's fist shook as he waited for him to say something, and all the while, the fair-haired drifter thought very hard. "Sora… Sora… oh, I do remember now! That was the name of your fiancé, wasn't it?"

Miyako blushed hearing that. Taichi nodded very firmly and slowly, as Yamato's face grew distressed as he recalled more.

"Sora… that was also the name of that one girl at the flower arranging school," he started to sweat as he put the pieces together. "They're the same Sora, aren't they?"

Seeing his brother's face turn red, Takeru eyed him. "Yamato, what have you been doing?"

"Snooping around for the Yamaki, I already told you that," he defended himself. "I never really meant to get involved with any girls, it just happened."

"What just happened?" Miyako pressed him for an answer.

"I'll tell you what happened," Taichi snarled. "He started chasing after her, and putting the moves on her, and she felt for it hook, line, and sinker. And then he left as quickly as he came, but she had already fallen more in love with him than she was with me."

"You should be mad at _her _for that, not me. She's the one who was wishy-washy," Yamato protested.

"Don't talk about Sora that way!" he snapped. "What were you doing there in the first place, anyway?"

"If you're so curious, I'll tell you," Yamato gave him a sharp look. "Some of my leads on the Yamaki lead me to the flower arranging school, and to her. I just flirted around a bit to try and get some information out of her."

"Sora would never--"

"Don't worry, I wasn't getting anything out of her. My leads were probably wrong, so I left," he finished with a deep breath. "I really hate to say this, Taichi…"

"Say what?" he raised his voice, very unsatisfied with what he had already heard.

"I'm sorry," he replied sincerely. "I know I've gone out of my way to step on your toes sometimes, but I never really meant to hurt you."

Taichi never expected to hear that, so he wasn't sure how to react. He struggled as bit as Yamato avoided eye contact with him, but took a deep breath. "I'm really too tired to think about all this right now."

"Then go to bed, Taichi," Miyako offered with a soft smile. "Tomorrow we're heading out to go take care of those yakuza once and for all. How about you go with us and get them out of the way, and then you can think about everything else?"

Taichi, obviously very sleepy, took a moment to process what she had said. Hawkmon felt very proud of her for handling the situation so well, but was almost surprised by how she could handle in it such a clear-minded way. She was growing up and maturing right before his eyes, and he felt a twinge of worry that one day, she might be able to take care of herself without him by her side. No, he chased those thoughts away, he was still her little samurai, and would always be by her side to protect her. More importantly, he was her digimon partner, and her friend.

Sora, meanwhile, was laying on her bed in the dark room, not even bothering to cry, but wanting with all her heart to see Yamato again.

Her longings were cut short when she heard some tapping from her back wall, and a girl's hushed voice whispering through the cracks, "ppssst! Are you awake?"

Curiously, she pressed her head against the wall and responded, "Yes, who is this?"

"I'm Jun, the feudal lord's sister! And you're Sora, the head honcho's daughter, right?"

"Yes," she blinked. "That's me. What can I do for you?"

"Well, getting me out of here would be nice."

"Sorry, I'm a little stuck myself," Sora smiled at her perkiness. "I'm supposed to stay here until I cooperate."

"That's a familiar situation," Jun replied. "Say, I heard a little about your circumstances… and I think it's pretty neat that you're fighting for the one you love."

"Really?" she blushed.

"Yeah," she smiled faintly. "I really hope that someday I can have a love like that. So tell you what, Sora? I've got a little bit of a plan…"

Even for not knowing the face she was talking to, Sora shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do. Count me in. What's the plan?"


	17. Chapter 17

The last several chapters have been full of important, saw-that-coming events. This is more of a transitional, introspective Takeru, Daisuke, and -gasp!- Kenyakoish chapter. Why? Because it needed it.

* * *

"Here, Oniichan, you can sleep here," Hikari led her exhausted older brother to an empty bed. In a few short moments, he had already fallen asleep, much to her surprise.

"Well, I'm going to go find Iori now and get to sleep myself," Takeru said from the doorway. "You should get some sleep soon, too."

"You aren't going to hang around Yamato all night?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I've think I've done all the catching up I can do for one night," another smile escaped his face, still overwhelmed with the good news. Back in his own room, he found Iori still sitting up straight, obviously deep in thought- how typical.

"Is Armadimon already asleep?" Patamon broke his thoughts by poking his friend's nose, at which the larger digimon stirred. "Oh, it looks like Wormmon and Ken are sleeping in here, too."

"They've been out like lights for a while," Iori replied matter-of-factly. "Are you finally settling down, too? Where's Yamato?"

"You didn't have to wait up for me," the older boy plopped down next to him. "And Yamato's sharing a room with that Jyou guy, and the creepy bandage guy."

"I see," Iori looked down at the floor. "I'm happy for you."

Takeru could easily read the lonely look on his face, as if Yamato had replaced him. That surely not the case, since he had spent everyday of the past couple years with this boy, and his relationship was far different than with that of a brother. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy, too," he hugged his knees and looked up at the ceiling with an awkward grin. "It feels a little surreal to see that he's alive and okay. He's changed so much, and gotten so laid back. But he's still exactly how I remember him, if that makes any sense."

"No, it doesn't make any sense," Patamon landed on his head playfully. "I always had hope that we might see him again, since we never did find him that night."

"Yeah," he mused back to his partner, a little sadder. "It would hard to have any hope for Mom and Dad. We know what happened to them."

The small group stayed silent for a moment, reflecting on the dead. Takeru gulped and leaned his head back further, trying to prevent the forming tears from falling out of his eyes. "I wish… I really wish none of this had to happen. I wish they could still be alive to see how much we've changed."

"Hmm," Iori turned his head more in the other direction.

"But I think everything happens for a reason," he continued on a lighter note and turned to face Iori with a gentle smile; the sudden movement forced some tears out. "If none of that had happened, I never would have met you or Armadimon. Or anyone here, for that matter."

"For a reason, huh?" the younger boy shifted his glance over to Ken's sleeping frame. "It _is _pretty ironic. You might be right."

Takeru rolled his eyes, seeing that the tender moment was spoiled by Iori's unwillingness to feel warm and fuzzy. "Let's get some sleep now, okay? I'll turn out the lights."

In a neighboring room, Tailmon stretched out as far as her paws would let her. "After such a long day, it'll be nice to get some sleep, right, Hikari?"

She nodded enthusiastically, not seeming very tired. "I'm glad we were able to catch up to Miyako so fast."

"She's a hard one to catch, that's for sure," Arukenimon groaned and turned over on her side. "Now would you _please _pipe down already? Honestly, humans are so noisy."

"Oh, sorry," Hikari replied, and then proceeded to whisper to Tailmon, "Why is she sleeping with her sunglasses on?"

"Maybe she doesn't want us to see that she doesn't have eyes or something," the digimon returned the whisper. Arukenimon's eyebrow twitched in frustration, obviously hearing every word of their gossip.

"Boy, am I wiped out," Miyako yawned as she slide open the door. She never liked sleeping on tatami mats because of how stiff they made her back feel, but the floor looked more warm and inviting now than she ever imagined it would. "Are you going to bed, too, Hawkmon? I don't want you pulling another 'honorable samurai' stunt like you did last night."

The digimon felt a little insulted with her connotation on 'honorable samurai'. Obviously, she didn't take his role very seriously, but he wasn't insulted enough to let it bother him. Taking a seat next to her, he replied, "Yes, I'm going to sleep now, Miyako. There will be plenty to do tomorrow, I'm sure."

"And we better be ready for it," she set her glasses down carefully. "I hope we won't be in for as many surprises tomorrow."

Hawkmon sighed and leaned against her, thoroughly tired, and closed his eyes. "I'm glad you're safe. I was so worried when you disappeared after that encounter with Skullgreymon. I'm sorry I didn't take care of you."

"That's alright, Hawkmon," she replied, undaunted. "Tomorrow you can make up for it."

"Right," he agreed with a content smile.

"Would you two cut the fluffly moment and shut up!" Arukenimon flung a small pillow straight into Miyako's face. "Sheesh, can't a woman get any sleep around here?"

"Geez, alright, point taken," Miyako rubbed her newly injured nose, and then reached out to shut off the oil lamp. "Good night."

Elsewhere, Daisuke sleepily leaned his head over on V-mon as they both stared out the open door up at the night sky. The clouds had cleared away, but the rain left everything feeling fresh and anew. Their thoughts weren't tied to the surroundings, though.

The young lord sighed deeply. "It sure is lonely without everyone around."

"You got that right," V-mon sighed as well, then tried hinting at something. "It sure is hard staying here while they all might be in trouble."

"I'm staying here. I've got more self-control than people think, V-mon," said Daisuke. "Sometimes I really hate being the feudal lord, and having to stay here to keep the peace- what there is of it, anyway."

"Isn't there something give can do to help them?" the blue figure clenched his fists and looked very determined at his partner. "I don't know if I can have as much self-control as you and just stay here!"

"The most important thing to do, no matter where we are, is to believe in them. I'm sure they'll be alright."

Daisuke's youthful smile melted V-mon's eagerness to fight, so he sighed in slight disappointment and settled back down next to him. "I guess that if _you_ believe in them, they can do anything."

"Yeah," he looked back out at the stars with a more uplifted spirit. "They'll make it all right, somehow. They can do anything."

Of the anything they could have been doing, the entire group slept peacefully through out the night. A dim dawn followed, and Ken awoke to greet it as normal. Having gone to sleep so early, it was easy for him to wake up, and tiptoe outside without any of his roommates stirring. That couldn't stop a sleepy Wormmon from trudging to his side a few minutes later, though.

"Sssh," Ken greeted him, then led him out into the thick mist of the early morning.

Inside, Miyako felt a chill down her spine that jolted her awake. Startled, she looked around at the sleeping faces, and decided to step outside for a moment to clear her head. Once outside, she shivered profusely, seeing as the sun wasn't ready to warm the world up yet.

The silence felt a little eerie to her, so she broke it by breathing heavily and watching the clouds of her breath melt into the air. Doing so, she noticed a figure heading out into the distance. In her stomach, she could feel something wasn't right. She adjusted her glasses and verified who the figure was, and then darted after him without a second thought.

"Ken! Ken!"

He and Wormmon turned at the sound of his name. "Miyako? What are you doing up?"

"What are _you _doing, up and leaving?" she accused. "Weren't you going to help us defeat the Yamaki, and avenge your brother?"

"I.. well…" he wracked his brain for an answer unsuccessfully. "Please excuse us," he finished with a bow and abrupt turn back to where he was going.

"Like hell you're excused," she growled and caught his arm. "Wormmon, talk some sense into your partner here!"

"I'd like to stay and help," the little digimon replied politely. "But I'm afraid working in big groups isn't much to Ken's liking."

"Oh? Too good for us, eh?" she said in a sarcastic tone.

"No, no, nothing like that!" Wormmon shook his head in defense of his partner. "They just make him nervous, that's all."

"What's to be nervous about?" she backed off a bit.

"I just don't think it's something I can do right now," Ken replied with his back facing her. "Please don't think that I'm abandoning you or anything. I think it's just best that I fight the Yamaki on my own, with Wormmon."

"What do you think you can accomplish alone, Ken? Besides, you're injured," she protested. "We were all going to--"

"I'll wait for things to settle down a bit for everyone," he continued. "Then I'll see what I can do to help you al--"

"What is it with you and not sticking around where you're wanted!" Miyako quickly reached out and clenched his sleeve to pull him back a step. "You're always like this. I don't want to have to wait for you to come around this time!"

"This time?" he gave her a puzzled look.

"Don't worry about Iori or anything, Ken. I.. we all want your help. We'll only be able to defeat the Yamaki if we all work together- you're smart enough to realize that!"

"Miyako," he said cooly and removed her hand from his sleeve. "This has always been my path. Even before we met Yamato, Wormmon and I have always been on our own. I can hardly even remember my brother, much less that he had anything to do with the Yamaki."

"I can remember him," the digimon added sadly. Ken paused, but didn't reply to him.

"This is my place, Miyako- on my own. It's a narrow path that doesn't have room for much of anyone else."

"You talk about paths?" her shoulders shook in the cold. "I would tell you to go back on it, but I know that won't do you any good. We can't go back and erase any of the sadness the Yamaki have caused. Instead, we can choose a new, unfamiliar path.

"I'm choosing a new path to make up for the bad one I chose before. It hasn't been easy so far, and it sure isn't getting any easier. Even after everything's said and done with the Yamaki, I still have my own mess to clean up. I don't even know if I'll be able to. This new path is full of uncertainty.

"I'll admit it… I'm afraid of what's ahead. Hawkmon might be the only one able to stand by me later, but for now, I need every friend I get. And that's why…"

Without holding back, Miyako puts her arms around Ken's from his back, and planted her cheek against his upper back. "That's why I want you stay. I don't want to have to wait for you to come join us, because I don't know if it'll be too late when you decide to come back."

The position was awkward for Ken, and even more awkward for Wormmon to watch. Miyako tightened her grip a bit as she finished in a small, pleading voice, "Please, Ken."

Recognizing his situation, the wanderer heaved a deep sigh, as if accepting his fate. "My job _is_ to protect innocent people, I guess."

Wormmon's face lit up. "So that means we're staying!"

"You really seem to like the idea," he looked back down at him. Embarrased, Wormmon looked the other way, causing Ken to chuckle inside. "If it's what you really want."

"You'll stay?" Miyako pulled back to look at him with wide eyes.

"I suppose," he replied. "Can we keep this whole ordeal between the three of us, though? I don't want anything to think that I…"

"Of course, of course," she nodded happily. Good old Ken, so worried about everyone distrusting him or something.

"Let's get you back inside, Miyako," Wormmon tugged at her kimono. "It's freezing out here."

The sun was just beginning to shed it's light on the world when they walked back inside, acting as if nothing had just happened. Secretly, though, Wormmon was very pleased with Ken's decision, and suspected that it took an extraordinary person like Miyako to sway his decisions so fast. But that would be a thought to keep to himself.


	18. Chapter 18

-1The inn owners were thoroughly pleased to get so many guests the night before, and just as pleased to serve them all breakfast in the morning. Taichi had enough energy to be completely back in action and start discussing plans to attack the yakuza head on.

"And then Hawkmon will come from behind and Armor digivolve, and then pow! Blast them away!" he demonstrated with his food.

"I would prefer to avoid harming humans anymore than necessary," Hawkmon protested quietly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Miyako replied and reached across him to grab a bun for her breakfast, blatantly showing her bare wrists for Taichi to notice.

"Don't forget that some of us humans can put up a fight, too," Yamato flicked his hair back and revealed a certain clay plate dangling from his wrist. Taichi fumed and shot a glare in Miyako's direction.

"Don't tell me you fell captive to his charms, too--"

"No! No!" she shook her head in panic and said under her breath to Taichi, "There was a, um, bit of a mix up."

"What do you think he's been doing with that? How much of a bill has he wracked up for Daisuke?" Taichi replied in a loud whisper.

"Shh! He's only had it long enough to pay for this hotel stay for everyone," she reassured him, then tacked on a little quieter, "I think."

"What _I've _been wondering, though," Arukenimon pitched back into the conversation. "Is how we're going to find the Yamaki. After all, Mummymon and I have been searching for years, and still haven't found their hiding spot."

"And if you've been looking for them all this time, too," Takeru turned towards his brother, "Then they must really be hidden well."

"I've already got the solution for that," Yamato smirked. "Him."

The drifter's finger pointed dramatically at Jyou, who thought he was going fairly unnoticed in the corner, quietly eating by himself. "Um… may I help you?"

"Why would Jyou be able to find the Yamaki?" Miyako blinked. "He couldn't--"

"This guy is one of them, but he'll be helping us out," Yamato introduced him.

"A little unwillingly, I might add," said Jyou. "But it looks like I have no choice but to tell you all where the hideout is."

Hawkmon and Miyako both gaped as everyone else talked about what good fortune it was to have a Yamaki associate in their clutches. "Jyou was one of the bad guys all along?" she whispered to her digimon.

"It's a surprise to me, too," Hawkmon replied to her. "It shows just how different this version of the world is from what we knew it to be."

"That opens up the possibility that there might be other 'old friends' waiting for us the Yamaki hideout," she mused. "I certainly hope not, though."

"I'm also wondering, Miyako," Hawkmon carried on a little quieter, hoping for no one to overhear them. "Do you have any plans for what we'll be doing back in the digital world?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead," her eyes sank. "The digital world might have already moved ahead a few days from when we left, or it could be held at exactly the same time. There's a chance I might mess things up even more by switching the clock again."

"Just as long as you correct this world, I don't think a time lapse will hurt the digital world much," Hawkmon smiled. "It's always been a little out of the ordinary."

"You're right there," she nodded. "If we're lucky, it might have already gone past my little mistake and corrected itself. If not, though…" she trailed off and sighed. "I'll figure that out when I get there."

"What're you two so busy with?" Hikari tapped Miyako's shoulder, causing her to jump. "You're ignoring everyone."

"Oh, nothing," she laughed and lied. "Are we about ready to go?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Armadimon answered for himself and his partner. "Right, Wormmon?"

Wormmon nodded, as did Ken, acting as though nothing happened that morning.

"I know I'm ready," Takeru nodded to Yamato as Patamon latched onto his head

"Let's go get rid of those yakuza," smiled Tailmon as she sprang up from her seat, followed by Taichi and Hikari.

Mummymon gently pulled Arukenimon up from her seat, "It's time to go get busy, dear."

"I'll lead the way, I guess," Jyou moaned, knowing with this many people on his back he probably wouldn't get very far leading them in circles.

"And _I'll _be taking that," Taichi snatched the clay slate off of Yamato's wrist, much to his playful disappointment.

"I'm glad to see that everyone's prepared," Miyako nodded at them all. "Let's go make things right!"

The Yamaki halls stayed very silent at that time. Everyone was feeling a little tense because of the atmosphere between Sora and her father, and no one dared to speak a word that might break the silence. Jun, however, was not quite as considerate.

"Uuuauaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" she moaned obnoxiously, and her voice carried through several halls. "The pain! It burns! Aaaahhhhh! Somebody get me a doctor, faaaaaast!"

Shuu and Shin came running in, having never heard such a horrible sound before. "What in the world is the matter with you?"

"You're the doctor, you should know---aaahhhhuuuhhhh!"

Sora obviously heard the signal, and banged against her back wall for attention. "What are you doing to that poor girl over there?" she shouted. "Don't you two know how to treat your prisoners?"

"I didn't do anything to her!" Shuu shouted back to the wall. "She just started moa--"

"My eyes! They buuuurn!" Jun continued to yell. "And my hands are so coooold! Auuuughhh!"

"They don't feel cold to me," Shin examined her, trying to figure out what in the world was wrong.

"Make the room stand still! Aaaaaaahhhh!"

"She's dizzy, has cold fingers, and her eyes hurt?" Sora continued to try to speak through the wall above all the yelling. "You know what that means, don't you?"

"No, Sora, what does it mean?" Shuu yelled back to her.

"Those are all symptoms of…" the red head paused and made a face. Jun's plan was just beginning to sound very stupid to her, but she didn't have any choice but to go with it now. "The, um, Ficus Flu!"

"The Ficus Flu?" Shuu, Shin, and Jun all blinked unison.

"Yes, of course it's the Ficus Flu!"

"Oh, right-- of course I have the Ficus Flu, why else would I feel like this?" Jun covered up. "Uuuwaaaaaaaa!"

"I've never heard of this before," Shuu scratched his chin suspiciously.

Shin shook his head at his brother. "It's new to me, too."

"Where did you hear about this illness, Sora?" Shuu yelled back to the wall.

Sora ignored him and continued insistently. "There's only one cure. It's a very illusive flower they have back at my flower arranging school. I haven't seen it anywhere else."

"I'll just go get some, then," Shuu replied. "What is it called?"

"I forgot the name. But you have to be very careful about the variety, or you might get one that will poison you through your skin."

"What kind of flower arranging school is this, anyway?" Shuu furrowed his eyebrows. "Poison flowers? Sheesh. I might be willing to settle for those if they'll just shut her up."

"She doesn't look very good," Shin looked at Jun, who was making herself sweat and turn red due to all the yelling.

"You have to hurry or we won't be able to treat it," Sora continued. "You have to let me go get the flowers- I know what kind to get, and they'll let me in- not you."

"But the boss said you're not allowed to leave until--"

"I'll just stay at the flower arranging school afterwards, I guess," she lied. "We need to take her along, too, otherwise the flowers might wilt before we get them to her."

The brothers looked to each other to try and figure out what to do. The didn't _need _Jun anymore, did they?

"As the head's daughter, I command you take us to go get the flower," Sora insisted with a firm tone in her voice.

"You realize, Sora, by making that kind of order you claim your status back," Shuu warned her.

"So be it," she replied. "Let us out now."

The group rebelling against the Yamaki wasn't a far distance off, and hadn't been walking long, when Jyou ah-ha'ed. "The door I use is right behind this tuff of grass," he announced and proceeded to yank the turf away. "It was hidden pretty well, wasn't it?"

"So well, in fact," Yamato half-glared at him, "I completely missed it when we passed this spot a few times yesterday. Funny how you found it so much faster today."

"Oh, well, uh, about that…" Jyou sweated, having been figured out. "You couldn't expect me to just lay down and be your door mat, could you?"

"If that's the case, then how do we know you're not tricking us right now?" Taichi joined in with a stare almost identical to Yamato's.

"Because I know when I'm beat," Jyou fretted and backed away from them, only to wind up against the door.

"What, I wasn't intimidating enough by myself?" the fair haired one clicked his blade out of it's sheath to brandish a bit.

"No! That's not what I-- gah! Don't hurt me!"

"He wasn't going to," Taichi rolled his eyes. "Now just let us in."

"Oh, good. Because my brothers will be giving me enough of a beating for this," he laughed nervously and opened the door leading them all in.

The hall was only lit by the traces of sunlight behind them, so the group stayed close together so as not to get lost. Faintly, they could hear the sound of a girl moaning in 'pain', and it was enough to put knots in all their stomachs.

"I'm a little scared," Hikari whispered to Tailmon.

"It's alright," her partner whispered back. "I'll take care of you."

Once at the opening to the developed, underground portion of the hide out, Jyou turned around to face them all. "Now, first on our tour--"

"Okay, everyone, split up and storm the place!" Taichi yelled and threw his fist in the air. Everyone agreed in a loud, unanimous "Yeah", and then scattered off in different directions, without so much of an idea what they were going to do. Jyou blinked awkwardly as he watched the space they just left.

"What was that!" Shin yelled as he came around the corner, followed by Shuu, Sora, and Jun. "J-Jyou? What in tarnation are you doing back here already?"

"Oh, hi," he laughed nervously. "Um… guess what?"

His brothers both stared backed him, thoroughly unamused. "What, Jyou?"

"We have visitors."

"What?" they both yelled and dropped their guard.

"Now!" Jun yelled to Sora and grabbed her wrist to run away. As they broke free, neither one cared very much about their kimonos, so they took wide, revealing strides. It was enough to briefly distract anyone of the Yamaki men who might have crossed their path and stopped them. Soon enough, though, duty called them back to the present and they chased after them.

It didn't take long for the girls to find the end of the hallway, though. "Hurray, Sora! Open the door, the door!" Jun snapped as he noticed the guards catching up behind them.

"I'm trying! The door's stuck!" she replied in frustration. It didn't help that Jun abruptly clung to her as they got closer. Just before the one of the men stuck his hand out to reach them, though, a swift blade snapped down against his arm.

As the injured man recoiled, Ken stood in his midst, with Wormmon not far behind him. In reply, the man drew his own sword to clash against Ken's. They weren't alone, however, so a second guard tried to attack Ken from his back, only to have his own sword stopped by Iori's.

"Thanks," Ken said to him quickly and continued with his own fight.

"My pleasure," Iori replied flatly and kept himself just as busy. The distraction gave Sora just enough time to force the door open and lead Jun through with her.

Elsewhere, Miyako and Hawkmon ran through the halls alone, and weren't met with any opposition. "Doesn't it seem a little too quiet?" Hawkmon mused to her.

"The thugs are probably all busy with everyone else," she said back and kept running, while periodically looking back down to her digivice. "We just have to find the computer as soon as possible."

"Does your digivice pick up signals from personal computers?" the digimon asked.

"It's worth a shot… got it. Around this corner, Hawkmon!"

The two of them slid around the slick corner and found only one doorway on the following wall, and without hesitation, they slid it open to look inside. There, they found a older-styled, dark faced monitor, sitting next to a partially dismantled hard drive. The keyboard and mouse were sitting close by, and the sight was welcoming to their sore eyes. They both smiled widely and stepped into the room to get their hands on it.

It seemed like smooth sailing, until someone silently stepped out in front of them. He was of not very intimidating height, folded his arms, and let his short, red hair whisk itself in whatever direction it pleased.

"I'm afraid this room is for authorized personnel only," he said. "Miyako and Hawkmon, am I right?"

They both gasped slightly as they took a step backwards. "Koushirou!"


	19. Chapter 19

A subconscious smile crawled across Miyako's cheeks as she recognized a face she always relied on. "Koushirou, it's great to see you again!"

"If I recall, we bumped into each other once," he tilted his chin down. "But I don't remember dropping my name."

"Oh, right," she laughed and reminded herself of her situation. Hawkmon was just a bit more aware of the situation, and was careful to position himself between her and their old friend.

"You seem awfully interested in this computer," Koushirou raised an eyebrow as he put a hand on the monitor. "Because you're from the digital world, right?"

"Not necessarily," she shrugged. "But we do need to get back there. This'll only take a minute once I boot it up, if you'll let me at it."

"You know how to use it?" the boy eyed her curiously. "Why don't I let you at it? You can show me."

"Thank you, Ko--"

"Miyako!" her partner stopped her from stepping towards it. He said nothing else, but the firm look on his face tipped her off.

"This… this _does _seem a little too easy," she stepped back and thought a little more clearly. "Koushirou, if you're here, doesn't that make you…"

"Make me what?" he smiled, pleased to see that she wasn't completely gullible. "The bad guy?"

"One of the yakuza!" she finished, partially angry and partially in disbelief. "Does that mean you help conduct those horrible experiments on digimon and give them all a bad name?"

"Research is my main work here, yes," he affirmed.

"How dare you!" she yelled. "Don't you know what you're putting them through? They aren't toys to go force to digivolve or make them fight for your pleasure."

"Don't compare me to people who make slaves fight just for entertainment," Koushirou furrowed his eyebrows in disgust. "It's not as if I enjoy violence. They're fascinating creatures, and I want to know about them. More and more about them."

Miyako could respect a quest for knowledge, but only to some extent. "Then forcing Skullgreymon to digivolve yesterday, that was all for the sake of research?"

"Precisely."

Hawkmon's next move was to hold Miyako back from trying to strangle Koushirou for saying that so calmly. "Then turning everyone against them is just another side effect of research?" she continued. "Is this why they have to live in hiding?"

"That's not entirely my doing," he folded his arms. "The boss doesn't want them to get so publicized, if you know what I mean. Besides, it's easier to keep tabs on the ones who have come here if they're kept to remote places."

"Remote places?" she shook her fist. "This still sounds like a big stupid game to me, Koushirou."

"It's not a game," Koushirou said firmly. "I've spent my whole life studying digimon."

"Ken, and Iori, and Takeru… they all lost their families because of your 'research'! What do you have to say for yourself there?" Miyako lost her temper even further.

"Takeru," he scratched his chin, "Was the boy with and older brother and a Patamon. Iori was the boy with an Armadimon who was living in the dojo and thought that Ken, the one who travels around with a Stingmon, was the one who killed his grandfather."

"Just how much inside information _do _these yakuza have?" she blinked at the onslaught of information, but Koushirou continued with a smirk.

"I remember that night," he looked to the ceiling. "It was rather… unsuccessful. The same goes for the raid on the Ishida house, though I wasn't there for that one."

"What do you mean, 'unsuccessful'?" asked Miyako.

"You seem clever enough, you should be able to figure it out," replied Koushirou. "Those boys are still living with their digimon, right?" She nodded. "And digimon don't just pop out of thin air. We retrieve testing subjects wherever we can."

"You were going to run tests on them?" Hawkmon finally invited himself into the conversation after staying quiet for so long. He had gotten adjusted to them being treated like monsters in this reality (which, in fact, they were), but he couldn't bare the thought of his friends being treated like lab rats, simply because some people were curious.

"Precisely."

Miyako felt a thick knot in her stomach. "Then Skullgreymon… you don't suppose that was…?"

"Agumon," Hawkmon's eyes searched the floor in horror.

"Koushirou," she weakly looked back up at him. "You're worse than the Digimon Kaizer. Who the heck is controlling you to make you do all this?"

"No one," he replied flatly. "I already told you that digimon, and the digital world… they all interest me. I've spent my whole life researching it. I have nothing else. And as a scientist, I'm about to have the chance of a lifetime."

"What might that be?"

"You know how to run this computer. You also know how to reach the digital world," he smiled in bubbly excitement. "Have you figured it out yet?"

The knot in Miyako's stomach grew tighter. A part of her silently screamed in disbelief that Koushirou would ever do such things. She always knew he would go to great lengths to learn about the digital world, but he would never go this far, right?

Yamato was having no trouble beating up the Yamaki's thugs, after years of training and yearning to teach them a lesson. His goal, though, was to find the head of the organization. After all, once he had his head, the rest would fall easily. Patamon followed him blowing air shots, and Takeru simply ran behind them.

"You two are really cleaning house," he observed. "It makes me feel a little useless."

"Not at all, Takeru," Yamato flashed a smile at him.

"Right," chimed in Patamon. "You're our reason to fight."

"Oh," he tilted his head, still not finding it a very useful role.

"Where do we go next, Yamato?" asked the digimon.

"I don't know, I've never been here," he shrugged. "Let's see whose behind… this door!"

He heroically swung it open to reveal three other surprised faces. "Yamato?"

"Oh," the drifter pouted. "It's only Taichi."

"Knock it off," he groaned and stepped through the doorway, followed by Hikari and Tailmon. "There's nothing over this way. Have you seen any sign of Jun or the computer?"

"Jun?" he raised an eyebrow. "Whose that?"

"Probably just another girl you stole the heart of while looking for Yamaki-clues," accused the other boy.

"Very funny," he rolled his eyes. "Let's go this way. I hear more commotion over there."

"Yeah, right, just assume that you're the leader, why don't you," Taichi folded his arms. "Let's go this way, Hikari."

"But Takeru and the others already came from down that hallway," she said.

"We're going this way with them," Tailmon pointed to the brothers. Taichi groaned again and followed begrudgingly.

Down other corridors, Iori and Ken still had their hands full in the corner they backed themselves up into. "Do you think we're the only ones the guards are attacking?" Ken flinched and caught a blade against his own, but Iori didn't reply as he was too busy keeping his head from getting chopped off.

Wormmon spat a sticky net against a few of the attackers, followed by Armadimon knocking them over. "They're probably picking on you two because you're injured," the green one said. "How mean of them."

"We didn't come here to get any pity, Wormmon," Ken replied, trying to sound like he wasn't having any trouble. "I wonder where the others are?"

"Come to think of it, Arukenimon and Mummymon disappeared as soon as we got through the door," Armadimon observed while tripping one of the attackers. "They're like ninja or something."

The aforementioned digimon had whisked themselves away to some darker, quieter quarters. Their footsteps made no sounds as they walked calmly, and the occasional water drop echoed through the area.

"It's a little creepy, isn't it, my dear?" Mummymon eyed the walls nervously.

Arukenimon gave him no reply, and kept pressing forward. Disappointed, he continued trying to make conversation.

"It's a little cold, as well. Your bare arms must be so chilly."

"They don't need any warming up, thank you very much."

"You're welcome, dear."

"You're an idiot, Mummymon."

"Mummymon?" a frantic voice boomed through the hall, causing them both to jump. "Does that mean there's a digimon out there?"

"Um…" Mummymon sweated, and turned to Arukenimon who was holding her finger to her lips to keep him quiet. He didn't get the message, though, and answered, "Yes? Whom may I ask is calling?" Arukenimon promptly planted her palm against her forehead.

The desperate voice moaned, "Please, help us!"

Curiously, the two sped up to see who the distress call came from. Protruding from the dark wall was a wet nose that sniffed the air before speaking again. "You _are _digimon, right? You don't look like it."

"Well, what do you _think _we are?" Arukenimon replied to the snout.

"Well, you don't look like humans, either," it said. "So I guess you must be digimon. What are you doing out there? They haven't locked you up yet?"

Arukenimon quickly identified the snout as one of a digimon, and looked closer at the wall. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she was able to identify that it was not just a wall, but a barred cell. "Captive digimon, hmm? How many of you are in there?"

"Only three of us now," the snout replied. "I'm Gabumon, and this is Palmon, and Gomamon. Agumon was recently taken for an experiment, and we haven't seen him since," his tone grew very sad.

"You're experiments?" Mummymon gasped.

"Not so loud!" Arukenimon twapped him lopside the head. "How did this happen?"

"We were just looking for our partners," Palmon weakly sat up next to Gabumon. "I came through one of those digital rifts just like I know other digimon have before, but before I could find my Mimi, those humans grabbed me and have kept me here since."

"Jyou is so close, I can just smell him," Gomamon groaned in irritation. "It's driving me up the wall. What there _is _of a wall in here, anyway."

"Why don't you just get yourselves out of there?" Mummymon asked, moved with pity for the poor digimon.

"Try the lock for yourself," Gabumon pointed to a small device on the bars. Mummymon poked it, and shook profusely as a shock went through his body. "It's digimon-proof. We can't exactly get any humans to help us, because only two of them are even allowed to come here."

"Just my luck," Arukenimon hmphed. "I'll bet Boss had a hand in making this thing, too. He should of told us a wait to cheat it."

"For instance, getting one of our human friends to help?" Mummymon offered, still feeling shocks through his fingers. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but then bit her lip as she mentally admitted it was their only choice right now.

"Where _is _that silly Miyako girl right now, anyway?"

Miyako had sunk to the floor, as Koushirou continued talking coolly. "Come on, Miyako," he picked up the keyboard to offer it to her. "You want to get there just as much as I do."

"I never though you were capable of this," Hawkmon shook in anger.

"I don't know what you mean by that, Hawkmon," he raised an eyebrow, and wondered what kind of relationship these two had convinced themselves they had with him. They were complete strangers- completely useful strangers, that is. "Take it, Miyako," he nudged her with the keyboard. "Show me how to use this. Show me the digital world. I want to know."

"Don't touch her!"

A sharp feather wizzed through the air and graced Koushirou's cheek, causing him to look up in surprise at Hawkmon. "Oh. Are you challenging me to fight?" he asked. "I know how to tame digimon around here, you know."

"Try me," Hawkmon sharpened his eyes back at him.

The red haired boy smiled. "So be it. If I lose, I'll let you take the computer. If I win, you'll show me what I want to see."

"Agreed," he nodded.

Miyako grabbed his wing and raised her voice at him in a pleading tone, "Hawkmon! Stop acting all macho! You're not one of the samurai we see on TV."

"I already agreed, Miyako," he touched her hand. "Do you not trust me to win?"

"I just… I just…"

With her hesitation, Hawkmon removed her hand. As he prepared himself for battle, she finished under her breath, "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"It's time I protect you myself," he said without looking back at her. "Please let me perform my duty."


	20. Chapter 20

Hawkmon taloned the feather on his head as Koushirou carefully slid a shimmering blade out of it's sheath. Miyako couldn't help be wonder if that was a little heavy for him, but seeing how well Iori handled his, it must not be too awkward for him. After all, this Koushirou didn't have the opportunity to spend his childhood in front of a computer screen.

Hawkmon yelled, and charged forward to strike first. Koushirou had no trouble catching the feather with his sword and forcing him toppling backwards.

"You can't fight with that little thing, Hawkmon!" Miyako stepped towards him.

"Please don't interfere," he shot her a glance.

"If you have to protect me, you have no choice but to accept my help," she retorted. "Digi-armor energize!"

The digimon sighed as he felt digivolution take it's course, and took the form of Shurimon. Admitably, it would be easier to fight this way, but in a way, it felt like cheating. Koushirou didn't share the sentiment, as he had lowered his sword and his jaw slightly.

"So this is the armor digivolving I've heard about?" he felt a smile creep to his face. "It's remarkable."

"Shall we continue now?" Shurimon lowered his stance, looking far more intimidating now.

As their fight continued, further down the halls Wormmon continued trying to ensnare the attackers in sticky nets. Feeling so rushed, however, they weren't as strong as he'd normally make them, and the men had no trouble ripping out of them.

"Spider thread!" they heard shouted from down the hall. Immediately after, all of the attackers were caught in much stronger webs, and began shouting profanity as they struggled to get free.

"Was that you, Wormmon?" Ken raised his eyebrows and looked down at him.

"_Was_ that me?" he blinked.

Arukenimon pushed a few tangled men out of the way to find the boys. "Where there's smoke, there's fire," she raised an eyebrow. "I finally found some of you humans."

"Oh, it's Arukenimon," Armadimon observed. "Where's Mummymon?"

"Back with the catch of the day," she gestured in the direction she came. "Ken, Iori, follow me."

Towards the entrance, the Kido brothers ran down the hall after the missing girls, berating the youngest all along the way.

"I said I was sorry," Jyou defended himself, though in the back his mind was cheering on the intruders. "This is what you get for sending me on a mission I wasn't trained for."

"So now you're blaming me?" Shuu raised his voice. "You're the one who was behind on your studies in the first place- I had to keep you busy somehow!"

"I didn't think Jyou was really cut out for this in the first place," Shin sighed. "Let's just hope the boss doesn't--"

"Doesn't what?" a man stepped in their path, causing them all to come to a skidding hault in surprise.

"M-M-M-Mr. Takenouchi!"

"I wanted to go have another talk with my daughter, but her door was unlocked and she was no where to be found," he folded his arms. "And on top of that, I understand we've been intruded."

"That part is Jyou's fault," Shuu and Shin pointed to him.

"That's true, but I already saw Sora and Jun walking out with you two before everyone got here," he replied.

"We-- it--- they---!"

"Stop trying to make excuses and accept responsibility like Jyou, here," Mr. Takenouchi motioned to him, causing Jyou to blush for being praised by the head. If praise was the right word for it, anyway. "I'll start taking care of matters with the intruders, you three find Sora."

"Yes, sir! We'll make sure nothing happens to her!"

Despite the chaos happening inside the Yamaki hideout, the streets of Edo were fairly quiet. People do become fairly quiet when they seem something strange, after all. Without saying a word, mothers would pull their children out of the roads, and would stare at the monstrous things passing them by.

"It's a good thing we found a cart for all these weapons," Micheal stroked one of the cannons he was leaning against.

"Yes, a very good thing, Captain," Wallace panted as he struggled to pull the cart loaded with Western weapons and his commander. "I can't imagine how heavy they'd be, otherwise."

Mimi and her mother poked their heads out the window to see what in the world was making everyone so quiet. "Oh, look," Mrs. Tachikawa pointed, "it's those foreigners again. What do you suppose those things are?"

"You got me," Mimi sweated. "But they sure are shiny, aren't they?"

Micheal caught them out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, it's that waitress. Miss!" he yelled. "After our mission to retrieve the princess succeeds, we'll be needing a big dinner! See you later!"

"What do you supposed he meant by all that?" Mimi turned back to her mother, not understanding a word of his English.

"Maybe he was proposing to you?" she shrugged.

"Mother!"

Arukenimon led Iori, Ken, Armadimon, and Wormmon into the especially dark tunnel. They all struggled to catch any light, and finally were guided by Mummymon's voice. "Is that you, my lovely? Did you bring any of the children?"

"Human children?" came a few more excited voices. "Really?"

"We're here," Ken announced. "What was so important that we needed to see in here? Provided we could see anything at all."

The boys looked up along the walls as they carefully walked deeper into the silent halls. Palmon reached out to grab Iori's ankle, causing him to yelp and grab whoever was closest to him.

"Sorry about that," she waved, but was happy to have their attention. "Can you two really get that lock taken off for us?"

"Oh, there's digimon here," Armadimon sniffed the wall. Iori noticed how tightly he was clinging to Ken, and rather embarrassed, let go to kneel down next to his partner. Ken didn't mind, though, much preferring Iori to jump to him when he's scared than to attack him again.

"Where's the lock?" Ken asked and felt around for it. Wormmon did the same, and caught the tip of it with his ear. The slight touch was enough to send him sailing backwards into the other wall.

"He found it," Gomamon pointed to the little electric shocks that could still be seen surging through the lock. After checking to make sure Wormmon was alright, Ken grabbed it while he could still tell where it was. It felt warm, but he relieved that it didn't shock him like it did him partner.

"That's good," Gabumon observed. "Can you get it open?"

"I don't know," he felt it around in his hand. "Have you even seen how anyone else opens it?"

"The last time it was opened was when that kid came to get Agumon," Gabumon looked towards the ceiling to remember it. "I remember he poked it a few times."

"It does feel like it has buttons," Ken fingered it. "He must have had a code. Do you remember anything else?"

The three captive digimon all brainstormed together to remember. In the meantime, Iori place a few fingers on it to feel around, as well. "There's four buttons."

"A long, long time ago, I remember the kid giving the older guy instructions on it," announced Gomamon.

"And you never told us this, Gomamon!" Palmon shot him a glance.

"It was never important until now," he retorted. "Anyway, are you sure there's only four? I remember it's a five button code."

"Then one must be repeated," Ken pieced the puzzle together. "And we have no idea what the order of the combination is."

"There could be an infinite number of combinations!" whined Armadimon. "Can't we just break the thing?"

"That would drag an unnecessary amount of attention us," Iori replied. "And besides, there's not that many possible combinations. We'll just try them in a system."

"This might take a while," Ken turned to Arukenimon (or what he could see of her). "We'll need you and the other digimon to be our lookout scouts."

The captive digimon were ready to be done waiting, but held their tongues as they wondered once again where their potential partners might be.

Yamato lead his troupe of Takeru, Patamon, Tailmon, Hikari, and Taichi down another empty hall.

"It doesn't feel like we're doing much, huh?" Tailmon yawned.

"Maybe they're afraid of us," smiled Hikari.

"Or there's nothing important down this way," said Patamon.

"Hmm. It _does _seem pretty dead down here," their fair-haired leader scratched his chin. "Do you think we'd have better luck if you lead us, Taichi?"

He didn't respond. He never bothered listening to Yamato, and was more in tune to the other hushed voices he heard close by.

"Are you sure there's an escape this way?" one said.

"Ssh! No one's allowed to come over here anymore because the walls might collapse," the other responded.

"Then why are _we _here?"

"Ssshhhh! Because I think there's an old escape route here!"

"Taichi? Did you hear me?" Yamato raised an eyebrow.

Apparently not, as Taichi ripped open a door and yelled "Found you!", and revealed two very started girls who screamed in surprise. The others stared wide-eyed at them, having been very startled themselves.

"Oh, Jun and Sora!" Hikari observed. "Funny running into you here. At least, I know why Jun's here, but…"

Taichi swallowed hard he thought about that as well. Yamato turned to him saying, "I guess I was right about her, afterall."

"Taichi?" Sora blinked at the boy who revealed them.

"You know Daisuke's advisor?" Jun asked her. "Oh! Then is he the one who you were defending to your dad when you were threatening to leave the Yamaki? Well, gee, I thought he'd be a little more charming than him, but--"

"Leave the Yamaki, Sora?" Taichi stared her down. "Could that explain that, please?"

"Please do," Yamato folded his arms.

Sora's heart skipped a beat. "Yama--"

Their confrontation was cut short by the walls shaking and dirt falling from the ceiling. Takeru yelled to Hikari to take cover and pushed her behind Taichi, and still having feelings for Sora, Taichi instinctively grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. Immediately after he did so, a large board fell from the ceiling where she had just been standing. Jun wasn't sure how to react except to freeze and scream in a state of panic. Yamato grumbled as she wouldn't move and dived to push her back into the room away from where a second ceiling board was to fall.

The dust settled. Sora's nerves were rattled, and she quickly did a head check to see if anyone was injured. She saw a blonde boy she didn't recognize, Taichi and his younger sister, and the little white digimon she had heard about being partnered with her. "What happened to Yamato? And Jun?"

"Are you alright?" Taichi brushed some dirt out of his eyes. In a moment's hastiness, he had almost forgotten that there was a connection between her and the yakuza he hated.

"Patamon?" Takeru looked around. "Where did Patamon go?"

"Taaakeeeruuuuu," Patamon whined from the other side of the rubble, not having heard him calling for him. The sad digimon turned to look over his shoulder, where he saw Yamato and Jun rubbing their heads and getting up off the floor.

"Ow," the fair haired one groaned. "I hit my nose on your forehead. Are you okay?"

"My forehead's fine," she replied, but reached down to her ankle. "I sure hurt something, though. I don't think I can walk."

He sighed. "Does that mean I need to carry you?"

Jun finally turned her head to face her rescuer, and words were completely swept out of her mouth. He was gorgeous.

"Well," Yamato asked, "do I?"

_He saved me, _her girlish thoughts ran wild. _And now he'll carry me over the threshold…_

"Do I or do I not need to---"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, you do!" she clung to his neck, much to his surprise. "And please, tell me, what may I call you?"

"Ya-Yamato," he choked out from the hold she had on him. Not even bothering to ask her name, he picked her up and turned around to inspect the damage to their doorway. "Takeru and the others must have wound up on the other side of that mess, Patamon. Let's go find them."

Patamon smirked. _This is what Yamato gets for being a nice guy, huh? I'll bet he doesn't know what he's gotten himself into._


	21. Chapter 21

Due to Takeru's insistence that they find Yamato and Patamon, Sora started leading him and the others through a few other seldom used doors to get back around to where they lost sight of them. All the while, she was careful not to turn around and face Taichi, but it was too awkward to keep silent. He was probably still furious with her, she thought, and her secret ties to the Yamaki had just been revealed. He would probably be even more upset to find out that the plan was to use him the whole time. If anything, she thought, Taichi should be grateful to her for breaking their engagement so as not to hurt him.

"So, I see that you found Hikari," she said quietly.

"And I see you found Jun," Taichi retorted. "I had only barely mentioned to you that she had been kidnapped."

"Yes, funny how that works," she tried to laugh. Taichi didn't laugh with her, but smiled anyway to humor her. Takeru, Hikari, and Tailmon all dragged their feet behind them, finding the situation a little awkward, and being careful not to say anything to make it even more awkward.

"Did they kidnap you, too, or something?" Taichi asked her with a sarcastic tone.

"I'm sort of being held captive," she replied, having fully picked up on his tone.

"You know the place pretty well. Have you had time to get to know it?"

"Yes."

"This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Where's to get?" she looked away. "After all, we're through. You don't need to know everything about me anymore."

"Apparently, I needed to before," he stepped in front of her. "By now, I know you've got something to do with the Yamaki. Was our whole engagement a hoax?"

"Not the whole thing," she looked at the floor to avoid looking him in the eyes.

"Then all your affections for me were lies, too, huh?" Taichi continued in a mellow tone. He had used up all his brashness on Yamato the night before, so now he was able to take a cooler approach. "I make such an easy puppet, huh?"

"That's not true!" she finally looked back up at him. "I broke up to protect you! I didn't like lying to one of my friends!"

"Then leaving me flat on my face was a kinder thing to do?" he sharpened his glance at her, which prevented her from looking away again. "If you have any shred of respect for me now, you'll just tell me what's been going on all along."

Sora did care quite a bit for Taichi, even if she didn't want to marry him. He had already been reacting fairly well up to this point, so just filling in the details probably wouldn't hurt him anymore. Maybe, just maybe, she'd have the chance to reconcile with him. And if she was even more lucky, she'd be able to sort things out with her true love, as well.

Miyako knelt and bit her lip as she watched two of her best friends beat their blades against each other. Trying to respect her partner's wishes, she swallowed everything she wanted to say.

Shurimon, don't hurt Koushirou.

Shurimon, it's not his fault. It's mine.

Shurimon, let me help you.

Shurimon, just forget about your honor and let's get out of here.

Shurimon, you better come out of this alive. I can't get through this without you.

She looked back over at the idle computer. It was such an old model, but it looked like gold. If she could just turn it on and get going…

_The agreement Koushirou and Shurimon have is that if Koushirou wins, we have to bring him to the digital world. If Shurimon wins, we get to take the computer, _she thought. _I don't remember ever agreeing to that. I know this is for Shurimon's 'honor', but my honor can go out the window for all I care._

The other two were so wrapped up in their fight, that they didn't even notice Miyako stacking the moniter on the CPU and struggling to pick it all up.

Shurimon shoved the boy back a few feet and was prepared to strike at his arm to try and force him to drop his sword (or worse), but was interrupted by Miyako's fretting voice behind him.

"I'm sorry, Shurimon!" she winced and then ran out the door, somehow managing to go fairly quickly in a kimono and with everything she was carrying. He and Koushirou both gawked for a short moment.

"Miyako!" he yelled in exasperation after her. Koushirou sprang to his feet to run after her, but Shurimon extended an arm across the doorway. "I'm sorry, but we weren't finished here."

"Hmph," Koushirou smiled. "She won't get far with all that, anyway. Not with them on the way."

Shurimon gulped. "Them?"

Miyako was grinning to herself as she ran, for lack of a better expression. _What the hell did I do this for? Where am I going to plug this in? Maybe it's battery powered? Wow, this is heavy. Where is everyone?_

As if to answer her question, a few nimble bodies fell from the ceiling in front of her, all dressed in black. The three of them smiled back, ready to claim the computer.

"Oh, not you guys," her eye twitched in disbelief. "Since when are you ninjas?"

Ken and Iori still had not been interrupted as they traded off trying futile combinations on the lock.

"Is it working yet?" Palmon impatiently held the bars of the cell.

"If it was, we'd have you out of there," Ken replied calmly. "We have a system going as we try combinations."

"A system?" all the digimon asked.

"We're starting with one button and trying every five button combination with it, changing one factor at a time," Iori replied. It seemed completely rational to them, but made the digimon quite dissatisfied.

"That'll take too long!" whined Gomamon. "Just push random buttons and you'll get it sooner or later!"

"We'll get this way, too," Ken tried to sound reassuring. "Not this one, either. Your turn, Iori."

"Don't be so loud, you don't want to distract them," Wormmon said across the bars.

"You also don't want other people to hear you," an unfamiliar man's voice said. They all tensed up and turned down the hall to where the sound had come from. The children and their partners couldn't make out figure because of the darkness, but the digimon in the cell were able to recognize him in an instant.

"Keep pushing buttons," Ken whispered to Iori, though he had no idea what to expect from this man. All he knew was that he probably wasn't friendly.

The man, having come prepared, struck on his lantern, causing everyone else to wince when they tried to look at him. "You're only children getting into trouble," he observed. "Go home, kids. You should know better than to play with those dangerous monsters."

"If you're one of the yakuza, you're one to talk," Iori sneered.

"One of the yakuza?" he laughed. "I guess you could say I'm pretty involved." He held up the light to see their faces better. "Osamu?"

Ken furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, you're not Osamu at all. If that little bug over there is yours, you must be the little brother, Ken Ichijoji," he smiled. "Does that make you Hida's boy? It's funny to see you working together. First, because this is a restricted zone, and second, because I thought Koushirou said he took care of you both."

"Who are you and why do you know so much?" the younger one grew more defensive, while still punching in combinations to the lock.

"It's Mr. Takenouchi," Gabumon whispered to the boys, careful not to look at the man. "We think he's the head of this joint. Be on your toes."

"Do you want us to get rid of him?" Wormmon whispered to Ken. He shook is head in response because the situation hadn't gotten violent yet.

"Would you please drop that device and step away from our subjects?" Mr. Takenouchi continued. "You don't seem to know what violent acts they're capable of."

"They haven't killed any people, have they?" Ken stood up to ask and stall. He wondered where Arukenimon and Mummymon had run off to.

"Not as of yet," he replied coolly. "But your pal Stingmon sure has done a lot of damage, hasn't he?"

"If I recall, so have the Yamaki," he continued. "To humans and digimon alike."

"Those are preventative measures to ensure the peace of the greater good," he lied through his smiling teeth. "The reason we build our base out here so discreetly was for that reason also. You know how scared people get when they see your digimon. It would be better for everyone if you were to do away with them. You both could find families again."

"I have to refuse your offer," said Ken, who was starting to get nervous as Mr. Takenouchi approached. Before either of them could think of what to say next, the lock made a loud clicking noise as it dropped off the cell.

"I got it!" Iori triumphantly smiled in surprise, and the captive digimon happily ran out of the cell. Mr. Takenouchi's calm attitude fizzled away, and he reached into his pocket to pull out a small, decorated knife.

"Get away, now!" Ken ordered the others as he pulled out his own sword to catch the smaller one. With his smaller weapon, the man's reaction time to strike again was much shorter than what Ken was used to. Before Mr. Takenouchi could strike again, his fist was caught by a bandage.

Mummymon stood behind him holding the other end of the bandage. "You better start running away with the rest of them, Ken," he said.

"Where were you two until now?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

"Nevermind us being late," Arukenimon replied. "You just go on with the others. We have a special bone to pick with this man for the boss."

Elsewhere, Sora came clean and told Taichi about her role in the Yamaki, and her father's plans for their engagement.

"Is that all?" he asked, finding it hard to be mad at her.

"Yes. I _was _telling the truth about Yamato, though. I… I've decided I want to throw away my ties to these yakuza so we can be together. I can't ask you not to be mad about that."

"Oh, you can bet I am," Taichi replied. "But I was also being completely serious when I told you all those times not to involve yourself with him. I'm not the only one of us who can puppeted, you know."

She didn't pay any mind to this, having heard him say it all before. "I'm glad I can still call you my friend, Taichi."

Hikari took pleasure in seeing them reconcile. Takeru merely pouted because he couldn't find Patamon. Patamon, meanwhile, was trying not to giggle at Yamato's situation, which he didn't entirely grasp.

While carrying Jun around, Yamato watched a couple of boys dash by, followed by a third one lagging behind.

"Seriously, since when do we have these many halls to get lost down?" Jyou panted.

"Oh, Jyou!" Yamato greeted him casually, hoping he could still get a little use out of him. "I've gotta run, so would you mind taking care of this girl I found? You're the doctor, after all."

"Oh, Jun? It's okay, you can take her. I don't think we needed her anymore."

Shuu and Shin immediately came running back to Jyou's side. "Please! Take her!"

"What?" Yamato blinked.

"Hey, you're one of those intruders," Shuu deducted. "What have you done with Sora? If Jun's here, you must have seen her."

"I haven't touched her," he replied. "We were just looking for her and the others ourselves. If you're going to be good little yakuza like Jyou here and just help us out, maybe I'll give you a hint where to start looking."

"Why should we cooperate with you?" Shuu argued.

"I don't see why we shouldn't," Jyou stepped in. "Our only job right now is to retrieve Sora, not to get the intruders in trouble. Besides, Yamato's not a bad guy. At least, I don't think he is. I could be wrong."

His brothers looked to each other for a decision. It would just be troublesome for them to tangle with this drifter right now, since their only goal was Sora. "Fine. We won't cause you or the other drifters trouble on a few conditions. First, you help us find Sora. Second, we take back our offer if our superior gives us orders dealing with you. And finally… you have to take Jun. Take her far, far away."

"That's not a problem," she smiled and hugged tighter. They wanted him to protect and get her out of the awful yakuza hideout, how sweet.

"Agreed."

"So, where did you last see Sora?"

"Back the underdeveloped halls. Some boards fell off the ceiling and we lost sight of them. We came out this way to find another way back around to them."

"Doesn't she know how dangerous it is over there?" Shin gasped. "We have to get her out of there right away!"

From a differing part of the of the corridors, the newly escaped digimon were running as fast as they could, with their rescuers barely able to keep up. Partly to get far away from Mr. Takenouchi, and partly because they had good incentive.

"I can smell him," Gabumon smiled as he followed his nose. "That has to be my partner."

"It's a great smell, isn't it?" Gomamon smiled. "Everything around here smells like Jyou."

"I can't smell anything," pouted Palmon. "Although I really hope Mimi's not in a place like this."

Iori and Armadimon gave each other strange looks. "Mimi?"

"Things are about to get a little more interesting, I think," Ken replied.

Miyako was not amused as the tallest of the three ninja approached her. "Hand it over, and you won't get hurt."

"For as long as I can remember, handing anything over to you was not in my best interest," she rolled her eyes. "I'm in a bit of hurry, so can we pick this up later?"

"Hey! Stop acting like you know us or something!" one of the female ninjas spoke up and adjusted her glasses.

"Know you?" Miyako chuckled weakly.

Not very far away, Shurimon pressed his blade harder against Koushirou's. He obviously had the advantage in physical strength. "Who have you sent after Miyako?"

"Don't forget you're busy with me here, Shurimon."

"Just do me a favor and satisfy my curiosity."

"I can respect that request. They're few of my favorite accomplices," he replied. "Mantarou, Momoe, and Chizuru."


	22. Chapter 22

"Mantarou… Momoe… and Chizuru…." Shurimon felt like hitting his head against a wall. It figured Miyako's older siblings would be here, too.

"I'm sorry you can't go rush to her side right now to rescue her from them," Koushirou continued. "It was _her _idea to take the computer and run."

Somehow, he didn't feel quite that worried. No matter how much ninja training they had in this reality, Miyako had years of experience with them.

While he was distracted, Koushirou did some quick stepping to free his blade and step behind Shurimon. With a quick swipe, he put a long cut down his cape and what lie underneath it. The digimon flinched, but Koushirou would have to work much harder to cut through his armor. Considering he was only using a regular sword, anyway. Things were about to get much worse for Shurimon.

Speaking of weapons, Michael and Wallace continued along with their full cart. "No sign of the princess yet?" the younger one continued heaving the load.

"Not yet," the captain said from behind his binoculars. "But I've spied something better."

"What, Captain?"

"A waitress."

Mimi was indeed running after them, struggling to get their attention for them to stop, and also struggling to keep her sun hat on. On Michael's order, the cart stopped, and she caught up to them shortly, panting heavily.

"What are you doing here, Miss? This is no place for a lady," he said as she swallowed the air to get a little extra breath.

"It's not?" Wallace asked.

"After all, we're headed to war."

"We are?"

Mimi, not understanding a word of his English, held out a bag to him. Michael took it and looked inside.

"My mom told me to give you guys some lunch. You don't have to pay for it or anything… she just told me to do it because she's like that. So… I'll just go back now."

She turned around to go back, but Michael, not understanding a word of her Japanese, held the bag back out to her. "Miss, you're forgetting your bag."

Figuring she'd have to explain how to use chopsticks or something, she turned back around and peered into the bag. The _empty _bag.

Her jaw dropped, but before she could start crying over spilled rice, an unusual voice called out, "Miss! You dropped all this a few blocks ago."

Mimi and the foreigners all looked up to see XV-mon with a handful of rice balls, and the feudal lord all dressed up and sitting on his shoulder. Recognizing them, Mimi immediately bowed down to the ground, but Wallace merely waved. "Daisuke! What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Heh heh," he rubbed his nose casually. "With everybody missing, I was getting antsy, so I tagged along with XV-mon on patrol today. I didn't expect to come all this way chasing after a girl who forgot her rice balls, though."

"I-I'm so sorry about that," Mimi cheeks grew bright red. "It's their lunch anyway, so if you know them, feel free to eat it with them… um… Your Lordship… or something like that…."

Michael pursed his lips. "Wallace, what did the feudal lord say to make the waitress so upset?"

"Daisuke made her upset?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I made her upset?" Daisuke's jaw dropped. "Did you _want _to leave your rice everywhere?"

"No, that's not it, I--"

"We better make it up to her by inviting her to lunch or something," XV-mon said to him. "How about we all have a picnic right here?"

A minute later, Mimi nibbled her rice ball and wondered how she got into this situation. She listened as Wallace caught up Daisuke since the day before.

"So no sign of Hikari yet, huh?" Daisuke's energetic expression sunk. "I know she wanted to help Miyako and Hawkmon, but…"

"Miyako and Hawkmon!" Mimi perked up. "When did you last see them? How are they?"

"Hey, you know them?" V-mon, who had dedigivolved so he had a smaller stomach to fill, smiled.

"Yeah! I fed them free food, too!"

"Yeah? Well so did I! Well, not really me. My servants did," Daisuke continued. "Last I heard they were headed out to find the Yamaki yakuza and beat their tails off. Oh. Not to mention get my computer back."

"And your sister."

"Yeah. And my sister."

"That sounds awfully dangerous," Mimi's heart sank. "I hope they'll be alright."

Seeing her anxiety, the boys all fell very quiet as well.

At the moment, Miyako was alright. She had never won a physical fight with her siblings, and was at a bigger disadvantage while she was carrying all the computer equipment. Fortunately, she had a more clever way of getting through.

"We may not have met before," Miyako assured them, then moved into her bluff. "But I know everything about you."

"She's only kidding," Momoe said to her siblings. "Let's just take the computer and--"

"Momoe! Can't even see your hand in front of your face without your glasses!"

"Tha-that's a lucky guess!"

"But it's true," Chizuru whispered to her.

"Chizuru! You always forget to clip your toenails until you wake up with bloody heels because of them!"

She blushed and made a mental note to cut them tonight.

"And finally, Mantarou," Miyako grew an evil grin. "In the love letter you lost so much sleep over, you lost the girl because you spelled her name wrong."

Momoe and Chizuru turned back to see his red face. "Really?"

"N-no. I haven't done anything that dumb."

"And everyone can always tell you're lying when your eyebrow twitches like that."

"She got that right," her sisters chimed in, still staring him down with impish smiles.

"Oh, come on, everyone's done that at least once, right?"

"I haven't. Have you, Chizuru?"

"Not once."

"Well, n-neither have I. Not once."

"Not once… but twice, huh, Mantarou?"

"No."

"You're lying again. There goes the eyebrow!"

"And… there goes our target!" he pointed to the empty spot in the hall Miyako was previously occupying. She had managed to distract them long enough to get a good distance away.

Shuu, Shin, and Jyou, knowing the halls much better than Yamato, found the quickest route back around to the under developed rooms. Jun clung tighter to Yamato the faster they ran, and Patamon continued beating his wings to keep up. He and Yamato were both very worried about Takeru if that area was really as dangerous as they said it was.

Sora was doing her best to lead Taichi and the others back around, and eventually wound up on the same path the first group was taking. It didn't take long for reunions to ensue once again.

"Sora!" Jyou was the first to shout. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she didn't bother looking at them, as her glance was fixed on a certain drifter. "Ya… Yamato?"

"Hhmm? You two know each other?" Jun blinked.

Yamato looked behind her to Taichi, who merely folded his arms. He sighed lightly, then looked back at the redhead. "Hello, Sora."

Jyou and his brothers all stepped aside, and everyone feel silent. Sora was the first to speak. "I've been lying to you, Yamato. You know that, don't you?"

"I sure do now."

"I'm ready to be honest, though," she blushed. "Because my dad runs the Yamaki, I do have a pretty high position here. I was afraid to tell you and let everything change, even though I know you wanted to know more about them, since they killed your family."

Yamato shot a quick glance over to Takeru, who was quietly greeting Patamon and asking who the new girl was. Patamon replied just as quietly, "big trouble".

"Because I didn't give you any information, you had to continue on. I felt so broken after that, that I made up my mind to throw this whole life away," she smiled as she met him in the eyes. "And I have. I've broken all my ties with the Yamaki and I'm ready to move on wherever life takes me."

Yamato didn't reply.

"So," she went on, his silence making her nervous. "I'm ready to be with you forever."

Taichi's stomach churned as he heard that, but he said nothing. Yamato swallowed hard, threw some words around in his mouth, and finally spoke. "I'm happy for you, Sora. It's great that you're putting this life behind you I guess I better be honest as well. I've been lying to you, too."

"What?" she blinked, then looked over her shoulder to Takeru. "Your family wasn't really killed?"

"Half," he continued. "When I showed up at the flower arranging school, my only goal was to dig up information on the Yamaki. A lot of my sources pointed to you, so I figured I would weedle some information out of you, or maybe use you as a hostage if you were important to them. Congratulations, you fooled me. And that's why I left. I also fooled you, apparently. Sorry."

Sora sunk to her knees in disbelief. She looked over her other shoulder to Taichi, remembering all his warnings. He still had his arms folded at was looking away. She turned back to Yamato, who had a guilty and embarrassed look on his face.

"We tried to warn you that it was a bad idea," Shin said to her as he approached. "Let's go back and find your father now."

"I…" she started, trying to contain her tears. "I already decided to cuts my ties to the organization."

"This is no time to act like that," he continued. "We've gotta get you out of here before another one of the walls gives way."

Jyou looked towards the floor. He didn't want to drag Sora back into this mess, but knew he had to follow orders. His thoughts were interrupted by a strange, but somehow familiar, voice calling his name in excitement. As he turned around to face it, a little white monster lunged him and clung to his shoulders, causing him to start flailing his arms around in a panic. It was enough to divert everyone's attention away from Sora's situation.

Koushirou, elsewhere, had grown tired of fighting Shurimon with traditional methods. He panted, but still stared his opponent down, looking for the weak spot. He wasn't used to dealing with digimon at this level.

Shurimon studied him back. _I've got him tired, that's good. Winning is easy now. But how can I end this without hurting him? _

Tired though his was, Koushirou didn't not share the need to go easy on his enemy. He put his sword back in it's sheath, and tossed to it one side.

_Giving up?_ Shurimon wondered. _No. That's not like him. He's getting rid of his sword to make room for something else. Something worse._

"I did mention to you that in our research we've had to think of ways to tame digimon, right?" the redheaded boy said as he dug though his sleeve. "Like on the cells, we've had to develop locks that digimon can't interfere with. The technology can work in other ways, as well."

"Enough with the puffery," the digimon replied, thinking a little bit harder about what to do next. If he did significant damage to Koushirou, would he go back to the way he was when they set the clocks back? Or would the damage still be done? Would it be better to risk Koushirou's safety, or risk not setting the world back to how it should be?

He ran out of time to think as Koushirou struck at him with a whip that sent a painful surge through his body.


	23. Chapter 23

-1

Miyako began to wheeze while she ran with the twice-stolen computer equipment, eager to get as far away from her ninja siblings as possible. _If they're here, then my parents probably work here, too. I prefer our convenience store._

She swallowed hard. The convenience store reminded her of her home. Her own time. And her old friends who were not bent on killing each other.

A chill went down her spine, breaking her thoughts with that of her partner.

Shurimon, meanwhile, had dropped his weapon in surprise and clung tightly to his arm, which still buzzed with pain from where Koushirou's whip had hit him. The short boy thumbed it, feeling none of it's effects. "What do you think?" he asked, pleased with his handiwork.

"What is that thing?" Shurimon asked, having never felt that sensation before.

"A whip lined with fragments of digital code," Koushirou explained proudly. "It temporarily rearranges a digimon's code, rendering them unable to function normally long enough for us to gain control of a situation, although an extensive amount can completely disperse their data. It took years of research to perfect."

"How many digimon were sacrificed to make such a thing, I wonder?" the digimon felt his arm return to normal. He reached for his ninja shuriken, but the whipped cracked against his shoulder. _We're fortunate Koushirou was never the Digimon Kaizer, if this is what he's capable of._

"If you'll excuse me, I've got a computer to catch and digital world to go visit," the boy raised his arm to strike one more time. He was caught off guard this time by Shurimon catching the end of the whip and yanking it, sending Koushirou tumbling into the wall.

"You haven't finished me yet," he dropped the whip, and trying to cover up how his forearm ached. It was still easy to notice the bright surges around it.

"Fine. You want to see how long you can keep that up?" Koushirou stood back up with a fierce expression, seeing as no other digimon had defied his technology like that before.

For an instant, Shurimon wanted to run and tend to his wounds, but his pride chased those thoughts away immediately. Instead, he smirked. _If only you could see me now, Miyako. This is how a samurai fights._

Elsewhere in the hideout, some of the digimon were having more luck. "Good for Gomamon," Palmon smiled as she came from around the corner and saw him all over his rattled partner.

"What are you doing with a digimon?" Shuu gaped at his frazzled younger brother. "Get it off you! It'll infect you or something!"

"I-I don't know!" Jyou struggled, having fallen to the ground in surprise with a digimon clinging to him. He pulled Gomamon off his neck and held him at arm's length to look him in the face. "Look, I don't know why you're so interested in me, but you better--"

"Because we're partners, duh, Jyou," Gomamon smiled and wagged his tail.

"Partners? I have a digimon partner?" he beamed in delight at the sound of it, but Shuu and Shin bent over to glare at him from either side as he did so. "I mean… uh… uh oh. This may not be so good after all."

"It's great, Jyou," Yamato smiled. "I figured you'd be the kind of guy that'd be great partnered with a digimon, yakuza or not."

"He doesn't make a great yakuza anyway," added Jun.

"Where did it come from, anyway?" wondered Shin. As if in response, Ken and his troupe showed up behind Palmon, having had a hard time keeping up with Gomamon.

"Looks like you had better luck than we did finding anything good," Takeru waved to the fellow intruders. Before they could say anything else, Gabumon called in a loud voice for Yamato and ran over to his side, more careful than Gomamon not to pounce on him because he was already carrying someone.

"Oh. Who might you be?" the drifter raised his eyebrows and looked down to him.

"Gabumon," was all he could say, too overwhelmed with joy and relief to say anything else. He closed his eyes and smiled widely.

Yamato wasn't quite sure what to make of the monster, but Takeru and Patamon were a little quicker to see what was going on. They started clapping, saying, "congratulations, Yamato, you've got a digimon partner now, too!"

"Looks like Mimi does, too," Iori introduced Palmon.

"Bwehhgh?" Yamato gawked, both surprised at the news and surprised at himself for not figuring it out on his own, and quickly turned back to his digimon. "Gabumon? He's mine?" he knelt down to look him face to face, and was immediately caught in a tight, scaley hug around the shoulders. Jun blinked at the situation she was caught him, but didn't mind it much.

"The whole place has gone mad," Shuu groaned to Shin. "Just grab Sora and let's get out of here."

On the surface, the feudal lord and his party finished their lunch and were feeling more social. "What's that?" Mimi asked Michael, pointing to one of the sleek weapons on the cart.

"That's a cannon," he responded, having to guess at what she meant. "We were going to use it to save the princess. Would you like to see how it works?"

"Don't fire it yet, Captain!" Wallace raised his voice.

"I want to see it fire!" Daisuke cheered.

V-mon quickly joined him. "There's no one out here, anyway!"

"It's nice to be able to come way out here without Taichi breathing down my neck," the young lord mused. "Go ahead and show us, Wallace."

He sighed, "Well, if you say it's alright. We'll just point it out there on those hills and no one will mind."

Inside the Yamaki hideout, Sora stepped backward away from the Kido brothers. "I'm not going back!"

"There's no choice here, Sora," Shin coaxed. "If we don't go back with you, the boss will--"

"Do we really not have a choice?" Jyou spoke up, still holding his new partner.

"Of course we don't, Jyou."

"Yes, we do! We have a chance!" he persisted. "With all the commotion going on, we could all run away right now and not have to worry about fighting all the time!"

"Jyou, if ran away," Shuu responded, although not out rightly trashing the idea, "we'd still be sought out, and we'd have to fight for our lives over betrayal."

"Yeah, maybe… but at least we wouldn't have to worry about being the bad guys."

"I'll protect you anyway," Gomamon added. "I'm ready to get out of this dump."

"You're staying here!" Shuu snapped back.

Shin held his tongue, trying to convince himself out of the idea. "What if only Jyou were to go?"

"Is it ready to go?" Michael asked Wallace and patted the cannon. Mimi and Daisuke watched carefully as the foreigner locked it into place and checked his aim.

"Looks good. It won't hit anything important," he replied, and then struggled to lift a cannonball into the mouth.

"Let me help with that," V-mon rushed to side, and groaned as he lifted it. "Yeoch! That sure would hurt to get hit with."

"What are you suggesting, Shin?" Shuu berated his brother.

"He was never really cut out to be in this organization," he defended his statement. "If we stay here to speak up for him, I'm sure they'll just leave him be."

"How can you be so sure?"

"In any case, it'll be bad news if they find out he has a digimon partner," he pointed to Gomamon.

"Your concern for your brother is touching," Yamato spoke up with authority, with Gabumon supportively standing at his side. "But for your own sake, you should get going. I don't intend to leave one part of this place standing."

"Would you like to do the honors, Daisuke?" Wallace offered a match to him.

"My pleasure," he smiled widely and struck it.

"Take this whole place down? I'll eat my own hand the day I see that happen," Shuu turned to the cocky drifter.

"3..."

Taichi spoke up as he took his place next to Yamato. "It'll happen sooner than you think."

"2..."

"You just go ahead and try it!" Shuu raised his voice.

"…1!"

"I think this is part where we start running," Jyou whispered to Gomamon.

Mimi fell to her knees in surprise at the loud bang the cannon made. The cannonball sailed out of view, but hit it's target quickly.

Straight into the Yamaki hideout.

Miyako was knocked off balance and dropped the keyboard, and struggled to pick it and herself back up and keep running towards an escape. "What was that?"

The ceiling in the abandoned parts of the hideout gave way, and dirt flowed in from all the walls. The grouped yelled in surprise and ducked in various directions. Taichi covered Hikari and Tailmon, and Shuu and Shin instinctively rushed to Sora's side to keep her safe. The others fended for themselves as the place continued to rumble.

Ken did a head count of everyone. "Some of us are missing!"

"Where's Taichi?" Sora gasped and did her best to search around for him. Palmon used her elongated fingers to pull a large board out of the way, revealing Taichi, his sister, and her partner. Wormmon, meanwhile, created a net to catch the other pieces threatening to flatten them.

"It's no use!" Jyou yelled over the commotion. "We need to find a way out!"

"Up there!" Patamon cried, having found the hole the ceiling left when it started to collaspe. Takeru followed him, pulling on Hikari's wrist to have her and the other follow him. The others quickly made their way to the opening, with Gabumon needing to push Yamato up from behind for him to have enough strength to carry Jun. Shuu herded Sora and his brothers to safety, and Ken and Wormmon saw the rest of them up from the rear.

"Where's Arukenimon and Mummymon?" Iori shouted helplessly. "They're still in there! They'll be crushed!"

"So will we!" Ken pushed him upwards. As he and Wormmon struggled out into the light, the room filled with more dirt. He caught his breath, then continued to Iori, "with any luck, that area wasn't affected."

"Or with better luck, it was," Gomamon added. "Then that horrible man who runs the place will get what he deserves." Sora felt a knot in her throat as he said that.

"Oniichan!" Hikari gasped. "Your arm is bleeding!"

"I might have broken it," Taichi winced.

"You got that when you kept me and Tailmon from being crushed," she frowned with guilt.

"Hey, what's my arm compared to my sister?"

The frown weakly turned into a smile. _He might protect me from the wrong things sometimes, but I'm thankful to have him protecting me anyway._

"Aside from Taichi's arm, it looks like everyone's alright," Takeru looked over everyone. "From where we were, anyway. I wonder where Miyako and Hawkmon are."

Miyako, meanwhile, was heading back towards the entrance everyone came through before, undaunted by the shaking walls, just a little dusty.

"And Arukenimon and Mummymon," Iori clentched his fist. "We need to go back in and find them. Where was the other entrance?"

"You want to go back into a dangerous situation with that man?" Armadimon stepped in front of him. "They were helping us by letting us get away. That'll be for nothing if we just go running back."

"He's right," Palmon added, very relieved to be back in the sunshine.

"I'll go back," Shuu stood up from Sora's side, leaving her with Shin. "Someone needs to go get the boss and the others out of there."

"Are you just going to tell everyone where to find us, then?" Tailmon folded her arms suspiciously.

"After a shock like that- whatever that was- the rest of the hideout will probably collapse soon," he said and began running towards another entrance. "Shin, take care of Sora."

"Be careful!" Jun called after her previous captor. Before he was even a hundred yards away, he was met by three ninja appearing in front of him.

"Nothing to worry about, Shuu," Mantarou said. "We already had most everyone evacuated."

"As soon as we heard that boom and everything started shaking," Chizuru added, "we abandoned chasing after the girl with the computer and made sure the boss got out safe."

"Koushirou was the last one not accounted for, but he'll probably be along shortly."

Behind them appeared Mr. Takenouchi, dusty, but unharmed. The other digimon were nowhere to be seen. "Thank goodness, Sora's alright."

"Where are they?" Iori shouted. "Where are Arukenimon and Mummymon?"

"And you all made it this far?" he raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. Those other two didn't give me nearly as much trouble."

Iori, Ken, and Yamato all went pale.

"Yukio's little thugs have been done away with."


	24. Chapter 24

ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER THIS ONE!!! IT'S ALMOST FINISHED! In the meantime, you all might have fun reading the joke ending I wrote while I was having writer's block. http://appaku. read this real chapter first, okay?

* * *

Oikawa winced in his little bed on the floor. He was too weak now to eat, and knew he didn't have much time left. _At least I was able to see a real digimon one more time,_ he thought of Hawkmon. _I hope he and Miyako will be able to make things right once again, for all the digimon, and their partners. And for the digital world…_

_The digital world… funny how much it sounds like home to me. I don't even know why I'm in this world. I was able to combine parts of myself and fragments of digital code to make Arukenimon and Mummymon, so in way, does that make me part of the digital world?_

He got the chills suddenly and something jumped in the pit of his stomach.

_Arukenimon and Mummymon… _"did they leave without me?"

He smiled. "Hang on, I'm coming, too. Let's go be a part of the digital world."

And thus, he quietly passed away.

Mr. Takenouchi looked over the group, seeing many faces he didn't recognize, but recognized their eagerness to beat him up. "Quite a charming group. Who organized you all? Was this your doing, Sora?"

"No," she shook her head.

"It was another girl and her digimon who did this is," Mantarou spoke up.

Ken became tense. "Miyako's still inside." Ignoring how he warned Iori not to go back inside, he darted back to their original entrance, with Wormmon following as fast as he could manage on his sticky feet.

The walls started to shake more violently, and Miyako found the empty halls hard to maneuver through while carrying the computer and wearing a kimono. Under the circumstances, she valued the computer almost as much as her own life. Regardless of the earthquake like situation, she didn't think she was in any immediate danger.

"Why hasn't Hawkmon come after me yet?" she wondered aloud. "We need to go back to the digital world right away- does he want me to leave him here or something?"

Miyako didn't put him past that, and started to choke on the idea. "No way! I am not going back without him! Not with out Hawkmon!"

In a moment of hesitation, her feet stopped, wondering if she should go back to him. Doing so prevented her from being crushed by a door giving way directly in front of her. It surprised her, but made her a little more aware of her situation: that it was _bad._

"Now what do I do? I need to go that way!" she kicked the door in frustration, causing the one next to it to fall with a portion of the ceiling, completely blocking her way. "Who's idea was it to build an underground hideout, anyway? Now I have to go the other way."

To her dismay and surprise, even more of the ceiling had fallen behind her, trapping her where she was. Unsure of what to do, she yelled and panicked, still careful not to drop the precious computer.

"Over here, I heard her!" she heard a muffled voice say. A moment later, Stingmon was lifting up a portion of the rubble to let Ken through.

"Ken!" she shouted in relief.

"We need to get out of here," he said and pushed her along. "The whole place is going to collapse."

"What about Hawkmon?"

"He'll be fine."

"No, he won't! He was fighting Koushirou last I saw," she protested. "I'm not leaving without Hawkmon!"

"Yes, you are," Stingmon contradicted her as he picked her up.

"I'll look for him," Ken assured her. "Now get going."

She nodded weakly, seeing as she had no choice, and was airlifted out. _While I wait for them, I'll just have to start booting this thing up. Come to think of it, where am I going to find power for this thing?_

A ways off, Daisuke and V-mon clapped their hands. "That was amazing!"

"And loud," Mimi added.

"Cannons are pretty impressive things, aren't they?" Michael nodded. Wallace was more concerned with examining the damage at the landing sight through his binoculars.

Doing so, he gasped. "A digimon!"

"What?" Daisuke took the binoculars and looked through. "And Miyako! I wonder if Hawkmon's over there…" he looked down towards the ground, and such many jumbled figures, and smile spread across his face like butter. "And Hikari!"

"Is Miyako alright?" Mimi eagerly asked at his side. "Do you see Hawkmon?"

"Let's just get over there and find out for ourselves," Wallace suggested. V-mon digivolved to XV-mon, and the group rode with him to get there quickly.

Inside what remained of the Yamaki halls, Ken coughed because of all the dirt in the air. Everything was dark, due to the lights being crushed, but he could easily hear Hawkmon hit a remaining wall and see the sparks from the whip hitting him. He had reverted back to his smaller form, too beat up to stay an armor digimon.

Koushirou stepped out after him, silhouetted by the fractions of light coming in through a few small holes where the roof used to be. He raised his arm to hit him with the whip again, but Ken swiftly jumped in the way and caught the end of the whip.

"What are you doing here?" Koushirou raised his eyebrows. "Everyone else has evacuated."

"You should be joining them," he replied firmly, though he knees wanted to buckle when he tried to look Koushirou in the eyes. He didn't know exactly who he was, but could tell he was bad news to have done that much to Hawkmon already. "Hawkmon, are you still with me?"

"Yes," he coughed out and struggled to his feet from behind Ken. "Where is Miyako?"

"She's safe. For now."

"Then the computer must be safe as well," Koushirou smiled in relief, and recoiled his whip. "I think I've won this match, Hawkmon, although your effort was commendable. I'm off to go claim my prize now."

"He's getting away!" Hawkmon stumbled after him, but was stopped by Ken's arm.

"So should we."

"Don't let the ceiling hit you on your way out," the red haired boy waved and easily climbed through another hidden exit. Hawkmon struggled again to go after him, but stumbled into Ken's arms, exhausted and covered in bruises.

"I lost," he said weakly, completely disappointed in himself. "But at least I didn't hurt Koushirou."

Ken wasn't entirely sure what to make of that, but went ahead and started carrying the tired digimon out of the same exit. "You survived, and that's what Miyako will care about most. We can still get to her before he does anything."

Outside, Stingmon saw from the air that the Yamaki members and his allies were not fighting, but merely staring each other down, neither group willing to make any sudden movements and put their allies in danger quite yet. It looked safe enough to put Miyako down, computer and all. "Thanks, Stingmon," she said, and immediately started setting it up to use. Just as quickly, her siblings all appeared around her to claim the equipment back.

Mantarou stepped on her hand, while folding his arms and smirking down at her. "If you know everything about us, you know you're not getting out of this one."

Immediately afterward, a gunshot landed next to his other foot. In the direction it came from was Michael and Wallace, aiming their shot guns at the ninja siblings. "Touch her and we won't hold back."

Nervous about the foreign weapons, they stepped back, leaving Miyako wondering when those two got there. Behind them, Daisuke jumped off of XV-mon's shoulder. "Hi, Miyako! You got the computer!"

"Daisuke! What are you doing here?" yelled Taichi.

"Nevermind that," Miyako pulled him down to the grass with her. "How do get power to this? I don't see a cord, or a plug, or anything."

"You're the one whose from the digital world, shouldn't you know?" he eyed her.

"Just turn it on already!"

With a soccer-like move, he kicked the CPU and the monitor flickered on. "All it needs is a few good whacks. Taichi taught me that one." She blinked at the absurdity, but quickly shrugged it off and waited for it to boot. The screen only showed bright green text, and horizontal bars of light continually wavered up it's display.

"When did you get here, Mimi?" Patamon shouted to her as she carefully climbed off of XV-mon, who was defensively standing between Miyako and the Yamaki members.

"I'm not sure of that myself," she laughed. "It's just one surprise after another."

"Speaking of surprises," said Armadimon, as he moved out of the way to reveal a beaming Palmon. Mimi took only a very short look at her, before putting the pieces together.

"She's my digimon partner?" she blushed in happiness. Palmon was on the brink of tears, so happy to finally be united with her. Mimi fell to her knees and held Palmon's hands, then neither held back as they hugged each other, squealing about how much they had always dreamed of meeting each other.

Gomamon whispered to Gabumon, "Looks like Palmon's partner is a little quicker than ours." Gabumon simply nodded, though he was still too excited to feel any jealousy.

Despite all the commotion, Mr. Takenouchi merely stood back and folded his arms, doing nothing to threaten the children and digimon. Momoe whispered to him, asking what they should do. "Nothing," he whispered back. "Just wait and watch."

"Finally, it's done booting!" Miyako yelled and quickly started moving the mouse around. "How old is this model, anyway? …never mind."

Suddenly, a hand appeared on her shoulder. It was Koushirou's, and everyone was startled to see him, especially Miyako. "I won."

"When did that boy get here?" Michael stepped back.

"That's the boy who gave me a katana," Iori observed.

Miyako bit her lip. "You won?"

"Show me the digital world."

"Where's Hawkmon?" she whipped around to look him in the eyes.

"You're the one who abandoned him," he shrugged. "Now please bring it up. I've been studying and waiting for years to see this."

"Is this what you said to watch for?" Momoe asked Mr. Takenouchi. He nodded, with a wide smile.

Daisuke, who was sitting right next to Miyako, didn't like the situation and shoved himself at him, knocking Koushirou a few footsteps away. The red haired boy retaliated by pulling his whip back out and striking at Daisuke's stomach, making him peel back.

"What do you think you're doing to Daisuke?" Taichi yelled and stepped towards him, but flinched when he tried to move his arm. XV-mon stepped in to his partner's aid, but was hit with the end of the whip, and recoiled in pain himself.

Koushirou nodded to the ninja to come guard him, which the three of them immediately did, and then announced to the startled crowd, "Don't try to interfere. Now, Miyako, please keep up Hawkmon's end of the deal. You wouldn't want to hurt his pride, would you?"

She sweated and said nothing, continuing to look at the green computer screen. He bent down behind her again and spoke in her ear. "You ahead. Use your D-3 and open the digital gate."

No one was sure what to do, and left the course of action completely to her. _Hawkmon, what happened to you? Where are you? What do I do now?_ She answered the last question for herself, cautiously raising her digivice. _I need a miracle._

"The computer screen!" Hikari shouted as she watched. "Look! Something's coming out of it!"

Everyone, ally and enemy alike, furrowed their eyebrows and watched in suspense as the screen glowed and reached out into the world to materialize.

"What's going on?"

"Is that the digital world?"

"Couldn't be. It's coming into this world."

"What is it?"

Koushirou watched with the most interest, first satisfied to see the computer work, second, bubbling with excitement for his curiosity to be satisfied, and third, wondering what the heck was going on.

The last thing anyone expected was for the digital mass to shoot out and hit the short boy in the chest, knocking him flat to the ground.

"Whoa," the digital mass said as the glow subsided and his appearance was revealed. "That was a head rush. Are you alright, Koushirou?"

"What is that on him?" Chizuru looked over her shoulder and asked.

"A miracle," Miyako smiled awkwardly. "Welcome to Edo, Tentomon."

"Oh dear, I think I knocked the wind out of my partner," Tentomon took to the air to get off of Koushirou's lungs.

Mr. Takenouchi yelled and Koushirou squeaked out in unison, "partner?". It was unfathomable that Koushirou, the one who had cheated others out of having their own partner digimon for the sake of studying them, would have a partner himself.

"Speaking of partners," said Ken as he caught up to the others, and laid a frail digimon down on Miyako's lap.

"Hawkmon!" her mouth dropped open as she saw how horrible bruised he was. "Are you alright?"

"Not at the moment," he groaned. "But I will be. We need to hurry."

"You're right," she nodded, and lifted her digivice back up to the screen. "Are you watching, Koushirou? That's the digital world. We'll make sure you see it again someday."

"Again?" he heaved for air as he sat up, aided by Tentomon.

Miyako nodded. "I'm sorry, everyone. Even to you guys in the Yamaki. This is all my fault."

"What are you talking about?" Mr. Takenouchi stepped forward in confusion, having never seen this girl before.

"Are you ready, Hawkmon?" she helped him sit up.

"As I'll ever be."

"Digi-port, open!"

As they were pulled in, they saw all the familiar faces they were leaving behind in an unfamiliar place. Everyone had a look of bewilderment as they watch the two of them fade away. Some wanted to say goodbyes their goodbyes and opened their mouths to do so, but nothing audible came out.

Miyako tightened her grip on Hawkmon and called out one final time before she lost sight of them, "We're going to makes things right."


	25. Chapter 25

Well, here's the end. It sucks. I'm sorry. TT;; If you really, really hate it, you can go back to chapter 24 and see the link to the fake ending.

* * *

Hawkmon ruffled his feathers and took a deep breath. "It feels like everything is normal in the digital world."

"Do you feel better here?" Miyako observed him stretching.

"Much. Remind me never to get into another fight with your friends, though."

"Of course," she laughed in relief. "So how much time do you think has passed here?"

"Probably not enough to make up for other things," he looked around. "It may not even have been an hour."

Miyako sighed. "We sure went through a lot of trouble just to satisfy a little curiosity. Should we find the digital clock first, or do something about the destiny stone?"

"Now that you mention it, we didn't stick around long enough to see what happened when you broke it," the digimon mused. "In any case, I vote that we see to the clock first. We left our friends back in a state of panic."

"Panic? They don't know how to panic until they've seen me do it," she and her partner began walking back towards the digital world's central clock.

"That's certainly true, Miyako," he smiled weakly and matched her pace. "You take the cake."

It didn't take long to reach the inside of the temple that contained the clock. It ticked in a regular fashion, and showed that only a few minutes had passed since the last time they were there.

"It's now or never," she took a deep breath and lifted her hand towards the mechanical ones. Just before her fingers touched it, though, a deep voice stopped her.

"What do you think you're doing, touching that clock?" the voice bellowed and shook the entire temple. The partners fell over on top of each other in surprise as a bright figure appeared behind the clock. They both struggled to shield their eyes while still identifying the figure.

"A-Azulongmon!?"

"In the flesh," the Sovereign digimon nodded. "Now answer my question. What are you trying to accomplish here?"

Miyako, a little fear-stricken, started to well up tears. "Because I thought I killed you!"

Azulongmon didn't quite follow. "I'm sorry?"

"You're not the one who should be sorry- it's me! It's all my fault! Hawkmon and I already tried to--"

"Hold that thought," the deep voice boomed back, "the time is off, and I need to fix it."

Miyako and Hawkmon flailed their arms desperately to stop him, but before they could tell him not to, he had already used one of his talons to turn the hands forward. They huddled together, expecting the digital world to collapse around them. To their surprise, the only sound they heard was the continued ticking of the clock.

"Nothing happened?" they blinked to each other.

"Something happened, alright," Azulongmon growled. "I'd like to know whose been messing with--"

"It was me! I'm the one who messed up the clock!" Miyako turned to him and begged for mercy. "I thought that if I turned back time, I could erase a mistake I made. A horrible, horrible mistake. We came back here to set things right."

"Oh?" he raised a glowing eyebrow. "And what made you change your decision?"

"We went back to the real world," she slowed down. "It turns out that by fixing a mistake I made here, I made an even bigger one that affected everyone else I knew. I turned their lives completely upside down."

"Oh, really?" raised the other glowing eyebrow.

"Yes, really. And I'm really, really sorry."

"Is that all you're sorry for, though?" the Sovereign continued. "What about the first mistake you made?"

"That?" her throat plummeted into her stomach. Hawkmon sensed her distress and spoke for her.

"We were trying to find you and ask you more questions about the digital world. When the destiny stone wasn't reacting to the D-3 at first, Miyako tried other methods. In the end, she wound up breaking the stone, and therefore…"

"Therefore throwing the digital world into chaos and breaking the last barrier between this world and ours… and all the other worlds!" tears finally escaped Miyako's eyes.

Azulongmon stayed silent a few moments longer before responding. "Interesting. So even though you saved the worlds from crashing into each other, as you say, you still chose to risk that in order to put your friend's lives back in order?"

"It sounds pretty selfish when you say it that way, but yes."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from a Chosen Child," he laughed heartily, much to Miyako and Hawkmon's surprise. "Since you came looking for me for information in the first place, I'll give some to you. The digital world wasn't in any danger in the first place."

They both froze, which invited him to clarify.

"The world wasn't crashing down. I'm just cranky when I wake up. Apparently, my reaction was enough to scare you into doing all this."

"Then… I didn't really break the last destiny stone?" Miyako's heart was aflutter.

"No. Not at all," he chuckled to himself, but it was still deep enough to rumble the temple again. "The reason I was mad in the first place here was because I wanted you to apologize for waking me up without good reason."

"Without good reason?" Hawkmon asked. "It was wrong for Miyako to try to satisfy her curiosity about the digital world, then?"

"Not necessarily, but there's a very important lesson to be learned by this. While having curiosity is good, humans can't expect to understand everything about a world as complex as the digital world. When they try too hard to satisfy that curiosity, they can wind up hurting others."

The partners thought back to the Yamaki and how twisted their views of the digimon became when they wanted too much to study them. "That's completely true," Miyako's heart sank.

"If it's not too much trouble, though, could you answer one of my questions?" Hawkmon raised his voice, not as satisfied with the situation as Miyako was.

Azulongmon eyed him carefully. "Very well. Ask."

"How do you know about us, 'waking you up', as you say? Before you changed the clock forward again, you couldn't have known about that."

"That's just one of those things too complex for humans- or ordinary digimon- to understand," he smiled. "We sovereigns are not affected by time. That's why it's so much easier for us to make sure this thing is set right than anyone else," he tapped the clock.

"Then this whole time, we've been panicking over nothing?" Miyako felt dizzy. "We've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off."

"Almost," Azulongmon replied. "The damage you caused to your own world was very real. Because you were so driven to make things right once again, though, I can easily forgive you for waking me up from my beauty rest."

"Will everything be okay now?" she asked. "In the real world?"

"You'll just have to see for yourself," he said. With that, he disappeared, leaving Miyako and Hawkmon to run from the temple and find a digi-port and return home.

Everything seemed normally. People were wearing modern day clothes, and going about their usual business. The two of them carefully looked around each corner before turning it, just in case anything out of the ordinary should happen.

"You two look like you're pretending to be spies," Tailmon purred, startling them. Hikari sat behind her on a bicycle, giggling at their reaction.

"Hikari! It's great to see you!" Miyako hugged her friend. "How is everyone?"

"Mostly fine, since we last see each other yesterday," she shrugged. "But my brother might have broken his arm playing soccer with Daisuke. We're waiting to see what the doctor says."

"Oh, well, that's strange," Miyako laughed in response. Just a coincidence, right? "Nothing about people we know randomly decidedly to hurt each other, right?"

"If that doesn't count, then of course not," Hikari started to laugh nervously, not sure why Miyako was acting so strangely. "It was an accident anyway. These things are fixable."

"You're right. It's all been fixed," Miyako smiled from one ear to the other. "Right, Hawkmon?"

He nodded to her with a smile just as wide. "Everything's right."


End file.
